The Former Guardians
by RedRogue
Summary: There are so many fics about the next gen. of Guardians... This is about the ones BEFORE W.I.T.C.H... from Grandma Yan Lin's time, when Nerissa held the Heart. An epic of where it all REALLY began, with the friendship, the love, and the ultimate betrayal.
1. Prologue: Guardian of Air

_**Summary:**_

_**There are so many fics about the next generation of guardians… well, what about the one's before W.I.T.C.H.; the ones in Grandma Yan-Lin's time? A story of where it all REALLY began.**_

**Set somewhere in the beginning of the second season:**

-

"Grandma?" Hay Lin said as she swept the dusty floor of the restaurant, long after closing time. Her grandmother, Yan Lin, sat exhausted on a stool, making herself useful by scrubbing the counter with an old dish cloth. She frowned at her old bones, age reminding her every second that it had finally caught up with her.

"You said you used to be a Guardian, right?" Hay Lin went on.

Yan Lin smiled at her lovely granddaughter, remembering when she used to look exactly like her, and gathered her breath to speak.

"That's right, my dear. I was the Guardian of Air, just like you."

Hay Lin stopped sweeping and leaned on her broom for support, and looked at her grandmother curiously.

"Why don't you ever talk about it? About the good ol' days and the old guardians?"

"Well, it does not do to dwell on the past, Hay Lin, and that time is _long_ past. You are the Guardians. Now my purpose is only to guide you."

"Oh," Hay Lin said with disappointment in her voice. "If you don't like talking about it, that's fine…"

Yan Lin looked at the young girl, who was working so hard to get the last of the dirt into the dustpan without much success, before finally resorting to blowing it in with a bit of her air powers. It was a sight that made Yan Lin smile inside.

"Do you really wish to hear it?" Yan Lin asked. Hay Lin perked up with alarm and then excitement.

"Oh, yes, Grandma! Very much!"

"Then you must put the broom away and come and sit down. It will be a long story, one that we probably will not be able to finish tonight…"

-

**This should be the start of quite a story. Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	2. Chapter 1: Guardian of Water

-

**A/N: Though Yan Lin's true age is unknown, this story assumes that she is somewhere in her mid- seventies. I'm sorry if my timelines are off.  
Also, I did some research the other day, and found out a lot about the actual past guardians and what happened in Yan Lin's time. The little that I have written on this story has been revised and is now strictly based on the comic book's previous guardian's history. The rating has also been changed to coincide with my story changes, since to be faithful to the story it cannot avoid being dark and violent. You have been warned…**

-

**Chapter 1:**

-

Yan Lin cleared her throat before she spoke, staring straight into Hay Lin's intense eyes.

"Way back in 1948," Yan Lin began. "A little while after the World War Two had ended, was when I found out I was a Guardian."

"Oh, boy, how?"

"Oh, like all of you, the guardians always knew they were different. But our powers began to develop later than yours, though we would hide it, and never speak it to anyone, even those closest to us. When I was sixteen, and I started to realize my powers, I bought a book from an old woman, and hid it in my father's library, back in my home in China. This book spoke of a place of ancient civilization, and magic unknown to our world…"

"Meridian!" Hay Lin piped up excitedly.

"Yes," Yan Lin admitted with a smile. "They also spoke of those ancient women who possessed the powers over the elements. I studied that book on Meridian like they were portal's into Meridian themselves, never really believing them, of course. Then, when I was seventeen, I traveled to America, in search of a better education. I still can't decide if it was fate, but it was there I met the girl who would change my life forever…"

-

Yan Lin stepped onto the school campus of Greenbrook High feeling invigorated and ready for the challenges she knew would inevitably come. She was a great student, always with her nose in a book and her thoughts in the sky.

She read the campus pamphlet map as she walked, unsure of were her first class was going to be held, but she was patient in scanning the many numbers on the page to find her homeroom. She was concentrating so hard she didn't even see the shy young girl walking with her eyes to the ground coming toward her, and within seconds they collided.

"Oh!" Yan Lin said in surprise, quickly gathering the books and papers she had dropped. "I am very sorry!" she spat out quickly.

"No, I am…" the girl said in a small mousy voice. "I'm always doing that…"

"I was looking at map, and I wasn't seeing in front of me… do forgive me."

The girl giggled at Yan Lin's thick Chinese accent.

"You're new," she guessed.

"Yes," Yan Lin confessed, looking over the map again. Then she looked to the timid girl before her and said:

"Could you help me?"

"Um, sure. What's your room number?"

"Oh, its…three-five. Thirty-five."

"Weird."

"What is weird?"

"That's where I'm headed too!"

Yan Lin put her book bag to the floor so she could extend her hand to the girl.

"I am Yan Lin. I am sorry, my English is no good."

"It's fine," she reassured her. "And I'm Cassidy."

Cassidy was a beautiful girl, and though she was shy, she was never without many admirers. Her family just recently had come into wealth and moved to the small town of Greenbrook, which only added to her unwanted popularity. People who met her always remembered her bright, big, blue eyes. She needed a friend as much as Yan Lin did in that lonely country, and Cassidy was kind to the oriental girl. They became good friends quickly, and then practically inseparable.

Then one day, they had an argument, over nothing of course, while they were sitting down for tea. Yan Lin then began to notice her small teacup, and every time she made Cassidy angrier the water would rise from the porcelain.

Then, all of a sudden, the faucet burst and the water sprayed everywhere, even lifting into the air and hovering above them.

As Cassidy realized what she was doing, all of the water suddenly stopped hovering and dropped onto them, soaking them both from head to toe.

Silence came over the room as the girls stared at one another in shock, as small droplets fell from the ends of their hair. Yan Lin knew what had happened just then had nothing to do with a faulty faucet.

They stared at each other for several moments, before Cassidy said:

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Her voice cracked as if she was about to cry. Yan Lin didn't move.

"Cassidy…"

"Please!" she practically yelled. "Please, just go."

Yan Lin didn't know what to think or say, because she was so shocked. So she simply gathered her things and left.

Later on that night, Yan Lin tried to call from her small one room apartment in which she leave, in an attempt at mending what had happened. She wanted to reassure Cassidy that her secret was safe with her, and maybe tell her about the secrets of her own…

But all night her phone just rang and rang, and was never answered. At school, Cassidy avoided her like the plague, sitting on the other side of class, eating at the other side of the lunchroom, acting as if she didn't notice her in the hall when she tried to wave.

Cassidy was so embarrassed she wouldn't speak to Yan Lin for weeks. Finally, Yan Lin would stand for it anymore. She cornered Cassidy one day after school, sneaking up on her around the corner and shoving her into a now empty girl's bathroom and into one of the stalls, blocking her way so she couldn't leave.

"Cassidy!" Yan Lin exclaimed, panting through the excitement. "Before you speak, I must say something."

Cassidy was still stunned at it all and just blinked back through wide eyes.

"I…" Yan Lin stammered with embarrassment. "I am… strange too."

"What?" Cassidy said with even more surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I can hear things… on _wind_," Yan Lin struggled to explain through her poor grasp of English. "I can… make wind go faster…"

"What are you saying?"

"These things… not same… They different… They are…"

"Unnatural," Cassidy finished for her, something she did often.

"Yes. I am sorry for not saying before."

Cassidy was only quiet.

"Did you know you different before?" Yan Lin said curiously.

"No, that was the first time that happened," Cassidy said sheepishly. "I've been doing it ever since though. It's not convenient when my stew turns into meaty soup."

Yan Lin and Cassidy laughed together.

"Food sound really good," Yan Lin said. "You wish for some?"

"Very much," Cassidy said with a relieved smile as they walked out with an arm around each other's shoulders. "I'm glad you kidnapped me and shoved me in a bathroom stall."

"Me too," Yan Lin said with a smile.

-

"Can I help you two ladies?" A young girl around their age asked, flipping out her pocket notebook to take their order.

"I'll have large fries," Yan Lin said. "You?" she asked Cassidy.

"A cheeseburger," Cassidy said. "And a _water_."

Yan Lin and Cassidy giggled together at this, much to the waitress's confusion.

"_Right_…" she said. "I'll get right on it."

Yan Lin looked around the corner diner with wonder.

"What's up?" Cassidy asked.

"I'm going to open restaurant someday."

"Sounds good," Cassidy agreed. "What will you serve?"

"Think American's will like Chinese food?"

"Sure, they already have a little Chinese place down on Huckleseed Street."

"Really?"

"Yeah, just opened last month. Anyway, have you ever thought about why?"

"What do you mean, why?" Yan Lin said, forgetting the restaurant for a moment to give her full attention.

"Why we're… you know…" Her voice dropped in volume. "_Different_."

"Some," Yan Lin admitted, sipping her pop and averting her eyes. "But you will think my reason stupid."

"I won't!" Cassidy promised. "Your opinion is as good as mine."

"Well," Yan Lin said in an even lower voice that before. "There _is_ this book… Ancient book that is not Chinese. I buy it from old shopkeeper so I could learn to read English. It said there was once group of girls who get powers like us, and they help fight in another world. Whenever needed again, new girls get same powers and new girls help fight."

"That's a nice story," Cassidy said sadly. "Too bad that world don't exist."

Yan Lin frowned and stared at her soda bottle. That was not the answer she wanted, but she knew Cassidy was right.

"Forget I say it," she commanded. "It is just stupid old legend."

-

**Three more guardians to find… stay tuned! Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	3. Chapter 2: The Heart

-

**Chapter 2:**

-

One day at school, Yan Lin stared at the people passing by as they ate their lunch outside on the grass like they usually did. One girl had a necklace that she wore around her neck, and as she passed Yan Lin and Cassidy, the large jewel hanging from the chain began to glow and ring. It only made the strange girl cover it up and try her best to make it stop. When she failed, she looked with confusion to Yan Lin and Cassidy sitting on the grass.

"Hi," Cassidy said with a small wave to break the awkward silence. Meanwhile, Yan Lin was staring with deep concentration to the pendant, wondering where she had seen it before.

"Where did you get…?" Yan Lin asked as best she could manage. She couldn't remember the word for it…

"The necklace, she means," Cassidy translated.

"I… found it," the girl said, and with her eyes they couldn't tell whether she was lying or not. She nervously tucked her jet-black hair behind her ear and made her brown eyes look elsewhere. But Yan Lin had to place where she saw that jewel before… in some book somewhere…

Suddenly, Yan Lin gasped loudly and grabbed her heart, her brown eyes growing wide, and she rose quickly to her feet, alarming all who were around her.

"The Heart!" she exclaimed.

-

All too soon the three were hovering above Yan Lin's book of Meridian history which she had studied for so long. The new girl, whose name they learned was Nerissa, was a rather dark individual, wearing dark clothing and had a sharp, sarcastic tongue. She was rather pleasantly surprised at her new company, for all the people she usually came around seemed frightened or intimidated by her, while these girls acted as if she was just another girl.

Yan Lin pointed to a picture of the Heart for Nerissa, showing her rather triumphantly that the one on the page was exactly like the one she currently wore around her neck.

"I can't believe it," Nerissa said, her eyes growing greedy. "All that power, is in this little jewel?"

"That's what it says," Cassidy said agreeably. "According to this though, there should be two more of us."

"You need to watch, then," Yan Lin said. "For if jewel go crazy again around other girl."

"I'll keep an eye out," Nerissa promised. "But if we ever do find all of us, what then?"

"Then…" Cassidy began, and when her voice faded Yan Lin finished for her.

"We will do what it say. Guardians will… unite."

-

"Wow, Grandma!"

"What?" Grandma Yan Lin said, snapping out of her storytelling trance to look to her granddaughter.

"This is the same Nerissa—as in, evil, psycho, sorceress Nerissa who's out to destroy us?"

"The very same," Yan Lin agreed.

"When did she become all crazy and homicidal, then?"

"Now you're getting ahead of the story… Where was I?"

-

Yan Lin checked in every day with Nerissa, who always had the same thing to report. Nothing. The Heart had not let out a peep in response to the rest of the undiscovered Guardians.

"Why not?" Yan Lin asked with disappointment, to which Nerissa didn't know the answer to.

"Hey," Nerissa countered. "I'm doing my best. I want to find the others as much as you do, you know."

"The book says that the true Guardians are drawn together by fate from birth," Cassidy chimed in. "They are never more than two years from age and they never manifest themselves in more than twenty miles away from each other."

"Explain meaning," Yan Lin commanded.

"It means that the other guardians should be living right here in Greenbrook."

"This is the only school for thirty miles around," Nerissa said. "If they live here, they go to this school. They just probably hang around with people that don't hang around with us."

"Like who?" Yan Lin said through her impatient tone. Nerissa only shrugged in reply.

"I haven't taken it into classes so that this thing won't ring up a ruckus if the girl happens to be in there. I think though, that at lunchtime we might be safe. I'll take it there today."

-

Nerissa's dark eyes narrowed as she walked through the rows of tables, clutching the Heart in her pocket tightly. Her ears were strictly bound to listening for that bell, through the chatter and commotion of the lunchroom.

"Um, ex_cuse_ me," a voice said from behind her. She turned to see a tall, long legged girl with long blond hair so curly they bounced at her every movement like bedsprings. She had bright blue eyes that were kind to her soft features, and good figure fitting to a popular.

Her snobbish face, on the other hand, took away from her beautiful face, as she glared at Nerissa with spite.

"_What_ are you doing over here? These are reserved for us," she motioned to her friends sitting nearby and chuckled evilly. "And… _You're_ not one of _us_. Scamper off now, okay? Buh-bye."

Nerissa glared angrily at the girl, not just for her harsh words towards her, but at that horrid faint ringing in her pocket, telling her that this snotty bully before her was indeed… another Guardian.

-

"I found her," Nerissa said, as she ventured back over to the lonely table in the corner that Yan Lin and Cassidy sat at.

Yan Lin immediately perked up with excitement.

"Who! Is she here?"

"Yes, she's here," Nerissa said with a sigh.

"What's the matter?" Cassidy asked her with concern.

"She's Halinor White."

Cassidy gasped, but Yan Lin, being new to the school, was in the dark.

"Who is Halinor White?" Yan Lin asked to anyone who would tell her. "Is something wrong with her?"

"That's just it, there's _nothing_ wrong with her," Nerissa explained. "Just her entire _personality_, that's all."

"Even from the short time I've been here, even I know to avoid her," Cassidy agreed. "She's popular and popular girls are vicious. She'll never go for being a Guardian. I say we just forget about the whole thing."

"No!" Yan Lin protested. "If she is meant to be a Guardian, then fate will step in."

The girls were silent for several moments, picking at their lunches without much interest.

"Wanna help fate along a bit by talking to her after school?" Nerissa suggested.

"Yes," Yan Lin agreed quickly, right as Cassidy was saying: "Sure, let's go for it."

-

The three girls stared at the intimidating Halinor White after class that day with a newfound dread. The pretty popular girl stood there all innocent and laughing with her friends without a care in the world.

"Nerissa," Cassidy said. "You're the leader, you talk to her."

"You're the one with the 'Southern charm', Cassidy," Nerissa hissed back. "Let's just make Yan Lin talk to her."

"You know I not speak good English!" Yan Lin argued. "She will laugh at me."

"Well," Nerissa countered. "I'm too harsh. Cassidy, you have to do it."

"Yes, Cassidy," Yan Lin agreed. "You are nicest and greatest speaker of us."

"Well, thanks for the pat on the back," Cassidy replied. "But… I'm too shy. She walk all over me."

"Fine," Nerissa gave in with a heavy sigh. "I'll do it."

With that she held her head high and marched over to the looming group of laughing cronies with a determined mindset.

"Halinor," she said bravely, as the Heart jingled excitedly in her pocket. "I need to talk to you. It's important."

Halinor stopped talking at once, looking Nerissa over and snickering.

"Didn't I tell you to scamper off already?" she said.

"I need to speak with you privately."

"What would I want to talk with _you_ for?"

"Because if you don't, then we'll have to talk here, and I don't think your friends would want to hear about certain… extra _gifts_ you possess. Perhaps a certain…extra ability?"

Halinor's eyes narrowed and she grabbed Nerissa's shoulder harshly and dragged her away from the earshot of her friends.

"You have five seconds to tell me how you knew that."

"Call it a lucky guess. My friends over there," Nerissa pointed over by a tree where Yan Lin and Cassidy were waiting.

"They have unique gifts too. And we think we know why we have them."

"_What_?" Halinor spat with surprise. "What are you even _talking_ about?"

"Do you want to find out?"

Halinor looked over at her friends, who stood cross-armed and impatiently waiting her return.

"Fine, but not here," she said hurriedly. "Meet me at Sally's Diner in an hour."

-

**Please review.   
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	4. Chapter 3: Guardians of Fire and Earth

-

**Chapter 3:**

-

Cassidy, Yan Lin, and Nerissa impatiently waited for the intimidating Halinor to show, each having their doubts about the arrangement, and if she would bother to come at all. The Heart would glow and jingle annoying in Nerissa's pocket, reminding Nerissa of the two Guardian's sitting across from her.

"You think she's going to come?" Cassidy asked the others.

"She will," Nerissa said decidedly. "She'll be too curious not to."

"Can I get you girls anything to drink?" a young waitress asked them.

"No, we're just waiting for someone," Nerissa explained, then saw who she was talking to. It was Halinor! She almost didn't recognize her in the apron and small paper diner hat that she wore.

Halinor then looked around to see if her boss was nearby. When she saw that the coast was clear, she scooted into the booth with them without any other word of greeting.

"Let's get this over with," she said as she took off the silly paper hat. "Sheesh, did you _have_ to get a seat by a window?"

"Who are you hiding from?" Cassidy asked her as she propped up a menu to hide her face behind, but she only snorted in reply:

"I only have a ten minute break, so talk fast."

Nerissa spoke first.

"You're not doing us any favors by being here, so don't act like you are. If I had any choice you wouldn't be. But the Heart said you were one of us, so we had to."

"What do you mean: 'one of us'?" she asked, peering over the top of her menu to look at Nerissa. "And who the heck is this 'Heart'?"

The Keeper pulled out the jewel to show her, and lowered her voice to a whisper.

"This is the Heart of Kandrakar," she explained. "Yan Lin over there has this book that says so. It also said that some Oracle chooses five Guardians to use powers over the elements to protect a Veil over this world and the next."

Halinor seemed very disturbed by what she was hearing. Her eyes were wide and scared, and her mouth was pursed very small.

"Cassidy over there has already discovered that she has a power over water, Yan Lin air, and we think that you have earth or fire."

Halinor snickered.

"What does that make _you_?"

"If the book is right, I'm the Guardian of energy. I carry this necklace and I amplify your powers. So which are you, earth or water?"

"This is ridiculous," Halinor said, scooting out of the booth and getting up. "You guys need to get lives. Maybe join the drama club? Or at least get your butts out of the library once in a while."

Nerissa frowned.

"You know that we're right," she insisted. "How else would we know about you?"

"I don't know," Halinor said, a little frightened by Nerissa's sinister expression. "But if you guys ever talk to me again, I'll call the police."

-

"So, Grandma," Hay Lin interrupted. "What Guardian is Halinor?"

"Oh," Grandma Lin said. "We didn't find out until much later…"

"So when did you guys find the last guardian?"

"Back then, things took time…"

-

"Anything?" Yan Lin asked Nerissa hopefully.

"When are you going to stop asking me that?" Nerissa said. "It's been too long, and I've checked the Heart against every girl in school. Whoever the last guardian is, she's not anywhere in Greenbrook."

"But that isn't possible!" Yan Lin said disappointedly. "The book--"

"--Your book is _wrong_, Yan Lin," Nerissa insisted, placing the Heart back around her own neck where it belonged. "I give up."

-

"How can I help you girls today?" the familiar young librarian's assistant asked, pushing up her glasses and staring at the pair of girls curiously. Cassidy and Yan Lin whipped up their heads in surprise, as they were lost in scanning the titles on the shelves for more books on Meridian legends. So far, they had not found even one.

"Oh, we're just looking around," Cassidy replied sweetly.

"Alright," she said, scooting up her falling glasses again. "Give me a call if you need anything."

Cassidy watched the girl turn to leave. She went back to a small desk, where papers were sprawled all around, as she seemingly deemed it safe to go back to doing her sorting. She was young enough to still be in school, so Cassidy wondered why she hadn't seen her around the halls.

"Do you go to Greenbrook High?" Cassidy asked her before she could leave.

"No," she replied, not even looking their way. "I have a home tutor."

With that she went back to work, heartily scribbling away at some notebook paper, and Cassidy gave Yan Lin an amazed look.

"That's why we couldn't find the last guardian at school!" Cassidy exclaimed. "Gee, I wish Nerissa would hurry up and get here so we can test the Heart on her."

Yan Lin watched the librarian's assistant with judgmental eyes. The girl's dark brown hair was lazily tied back into a low ponytail, and her dark brown eyes were tired and serious. She had dark tanned skin and an exotic face, like she came from a faraway land, like India or Egypt. She seemed very focused on her worked, like her mind had little room for bother with the likes of Yan Lin and Cassidy.

"She cannot be guardian," Yan Lin said decidedly. "She is too much like boy."

"Speaking of boys," Cassidy said with a broad, mischievous smile. "Seen any you like at Greenbrook yet?"

Yan Lin frowned in thought.

"No," she said at length. "Boys there are… children."

"All boys are immature, Yan Lin," Cassidy said. "Or maybe you just have someone waiting for you back home?"

Yan Lin look to the floor and blushed.

"Ha!" Cassidy cried triumphantly, at which the young librarian promptly shushed her.

"I knew it," Cassidy said in a lower voice. "Is he gorgeous? What is he like?"

"He is simple boy," Yan Lin said. "Son of farmer."

She sighed dreamily, clutching her book closer to her chest.

"He has very handsome face."

"Good," Cassidy consented. "I would not want you to run off with an poor _ugly_ man."

-

"Wait, wait, wait," Hay Lin interrupted. "Is this boy you were talking about with Cassidy _Gramps_?"

Yan Lin promptly shushed her.

"What did I tell you about getting ahead of story?" she scolded. With a frown, she glanced at the clock on the wall. "It is getting late anyway, Hay Lin. We don't want your mother to worry."

"Oh, please, Grandma!" she begged. "Don't stop! I won't interrupt anymore, I promise!"

She did a zipping motion to her lips, locked them, and threw away the key, just to prove it to her grandmother she meant it.

Grandma Lin looked at her granddaughters pleading expression and easily caved.

"Oh, alright," she said. "I'll tell more of this story… but first let me call your mother and let her know you are staying here for the night…"

-

Nerissa finally came, rushing to them and pulling them aside, red in the face.

"I'm sorry about what I said today, Yan Lin," she said hurriedly. "I sorry I didn't believe you… I saw… I saw Halinor."

"What did you see?" Yan Lin asked anxiously.

"I spied on her after class, waiting for her friends. She was smoking and couldn't find a light, so when she thought no one could see her, she lit it with her _finger_. She's the fire Guardian!"

Neither Cassidy nor Yan Lin seemed the least bit surprised.

"I knew she was fire," Yan Lin said decidedly. "She looks like hothead."

"Nerissa," Cassidy said with disregard to their current conversation. "That girl over there. See if the Heart recognizes her, would you?"

"Why?"

"Oh," Yan Lin chimed in. "She doesn't go to school. It maybe why we haven't found guardian there."

"Well," Nerissa said, pulling the Heart's chain over her head. "It's worth a shot."

Casually, Nerissa strolled over to the girl's little desk at which she sat.

"Hey," Nerissa said to announce her presence to the girl. The young librarian's assistant let out a sigh and reluctantly looked up at Nerissa.

"Can I help you?" she said sternly.

"I sure hope so. Hi, I'm Nerissa, and your name is…?"

The girl pointed to her nametag, on which was written "Kadma".

"Right…" Nerissa replied.

And without any discretion, Nerissa pulled out the jewel and held it up to Kadma's face. In response, it jingled wildly.

"Nice to meet you…" Nerissa said with narrowing eyes and a growing smile. "Guardian of Earth…"

-

**Please review.   
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	5. Chapter 4: So It Begins

-

**Chapter 4:**

-

"Alright, Hay Lin," Grandma Lin said, this being the first time she interrupted _herself_ to talk to her granddaughter directly. "Now that you know who the Guardians are, I have to tell you of some other people. The reason this set of Guardians were assembled in the first place. For on the very day that we all found each other, was the day Meridian stepped over the edge of its desperation and need for our help… The day began on a joyous occasion in Meridian—the coronation of a great queen… perhaps the greatest Meridian had ever known…"

"Besides Elyon, that is," Hay Lin insisted. "She might be one of the greats too, for all we know."

Grandma Lin smiled and nodded obligingly.

"Perhaps," she agreed. "But we don't know for certain yet. I can say for certain that this queen was certainly the most beloved by her subjects… she had such a heart for them…"

"Hey…" Hay Lin said, seemingly thinking of something that excited her. "Is this queen your talking about _related_ to Elyon?"

Grandma Lin laughed fondly.

"As a matter of fact, she is her grandmother."

"So you know who Elyon's real parents are?" Hay Lin piped up. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well, I don't know where they are now, or if they are even still alive. It has been many years since I have seen them, Hay Lin. Remember that this was indeed some time ago."

"Well, okay," Hay Lin said disappointedly, resting her chin in her palms. "So what was Elyon's grandmother like? Was she anything like Elyon?"

"In more ways than you might think. Elyon certainly inherited this queen's sorrowful eyes and fair skin… but also part of that amazing power. This queen—if you can imagine it—was close to two times as powerful as Elyon currently is. Oh, and she _loved_ her people. She sacrificed much for them. But!" Yan Lin interrupted her stroll down Memory Lane to lurch back to reality. "You are making me get ahead of myself again. Let me start from the day of her coronation and her twenty-first birthday, before I spoil more of it…"

-

In the heat of midday, the roar of a large crowd was heard through the darkness. A beautiful young woman, fairer than any flower and hair as white as snow, smoothed her large dress that was before her, and adjusted the tall crown upon her head.

"You look fine, Your Highness," a young man, who stood nearby, reassured her with a small sadness in his voice.

"Thank you," she replied. "No matter how many times I do this, I always find myself as shaky as a winter leaf."

"But every time you see them you become stronger than an oak," the man replied hastily. "You are perfectly suited, I assure you."

"Your Highness," said an older man clothed in long robes. "If you would please go on. Everyone's waiting."

The woman took a deep breath and ventured down the dark hall toward the light yonder. She bravely stepped into the sunlight, out onto a large stone balcony. The crowd below shouted merrily as one voice, overjoyed at the sight of her. She put up her hands to silence them.

"My people!" the woman shouted. The mob gathered below in the courtyard now seemed so small. Their great noise vanished at the sound of her voice. They hung intently on her every word.

"A new day begins! New portals have opened, yes, and we have not yet known how or why this has happened, but know that our forces are strong, and my power still remains true. As of yesterday, I have closed all gateways within a hundred miles of here, from the forest lands to the valleys, and our armies continue to scout for more infractions of this balance. Our ways are just! We will seek out this lawbreaker and put an end to their illegal actions. There is no need for worry here!"

Cheers arose from the mass of subjects. Proudly the queen looked upon her people with love in her eyes. Then she turned to the young, handsome man on her right, with the same look glowing toward him. The young man simply smiled reassuringly at her, telling her in silence that she was indeed the oak once more.

"She is beautiful isn't she?" the older man whispered in a playful tone to this younger man.

"We aren't at liberty to say, Favian," the younger man replied as if reciting a rehearsed line, but the man insisted.

"And if we _were_ with that liberty?"

The young looked to the older man in all seriousness.

"Then I'd say any word in any language cannot rightfully do justice to her beauty."

The man then smiled in satisfaction.

"Beautiful enough to distract you, that is certain," he said in a lower voice, his tone falling deep and husky.

"Whatever do you mean?" the boy asked in confusion.

A scream was heard, and the crowd gasped. The young man looked again, and saw the woman was being held by several strange, menacing looking creatures. Large beasts that resembled wolf-men, with gnashing fangs and sharp claws. Each stared calmly at the young man, with their marble black orbs for eyes.

"You are blind in your youth," Favian went on to the young man. "You could not see what was before your eyes for all these many years. And this love affair was the final ticket, my assuring rain of fortune in my favor. Oh, great young leader of the armies, inherited from your father when it rightfully should have been mine. The council will think again before letting a young man be appointed higher than me."

The young man turned to the nearby guards, who stood still.

"What are you waiting for? Get him!"

They simply grinned and unsheathed their swords. They were not on the young man's side. He seemed shocked by this, as hope began to leave him. A mutiny had begun.

"I will not concede," the queen said decidedly.

"We are _very_ persuasive, your highness," the dark man replied, chuckling evilly like he had maniacal plans in store for her.

"Favian, please… let her go…" the younger man pleaded.

"With your power and my own," the old man went on, putting a finger under the queen's chin to get her strict attention. "The lands will be united, your highness, just like you always dreamed…"

"My dream was not for anarchy or tyranny," the queen replied. "Meridian has no place for selfish rulers."

"That is why I am making my own place. Metamoor will be darkened once more. These people need ruling, not guidance. Soon you will see my dreams for this world."

He reached in his coat then, nodding to his servants.

"No!" the young man shouted, running as him. "Wait!"

But when reached them, they were no more than a cloud of smoke, and a small trinket on a chain, a gift necklace to the queen long ago, was left as the only trace…

-

"So the young leader was in love with the _queen_?" Hay Lin said breathlessly.

"Yes, but it was a long keep secret of which no one knew of, for they were quite careful to conceal it. But the two had just swore their love denied when the day of her coronation came. They new that if she was to be queen, their love could never be. For a love such as theirs was strictly forbidden in that time under penalty of death. And Meridian deeply valued them both. It was a risk they couldn't afford to take, even at the cost of their own hearts."

Hay Lin sighed dreamily.

"That is _so_ romantic."

"I assure you," Yan Lin insisted. "It was not so wonderful then…"

-

A hooded figure ventured through the dark, empty streets of Meridian alone. His dark clothes would have provided with the assumption of a shifty countenance, but this man was not here for violence. He had a single destination in mind, through the door in the alleyway marked with the white castle symbol. In his hand he held a letter of dark parchment. The door was not locked, and the man entered with no need for invitation. The bell over the door chimed as the man came through, making the occupants stir. An old man hurriedly came forth from the back rooms, pulling a robe over his nightclothes.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Oracle," the dark man said. "But the matter is urgent."

"Do not apologize," the old, bald man replied. "I expected you."

The hooded man placed a letter on the counter, sealed with the same symbol found outside the door of this very shop. The old gentleman nodded with immediate understanding.

"Of course, of course," the old man replied sullenly. "I knew this time would come. I see there is no more time to waste. I will give you what you need, and you will bring back the Guardians that I have chosen."

-

"I have to admit," Cassidy whispered to Yan Lin as they walked home from the library that day. "After Nerissa so bluntly put 'the deal' before Kadma, I wasn't expecting her to take it so well."

"Do remember I am right next to you," Kadma commanded them, blinking heavily over her deep green eyes. "And one has to admit to oneself that powers are not normal to a human being. I mean, didn't you wonder? I knew my particular _talent_ for gardening had to be more than just a 'green thumb'. It was…" she faded off, trying to find the right word.

"Unnatural," Cassidy finished for her.

"Precisely," Kadma agreed.

Yan Lin led the quintet through a quiet dime store and over to the staircase in the back of the store. Once they had reached the top of the long flight of winding stairs, they saw an apartment resided above it. The door was at the end of a long narrow hallway, so slender they were forced to walk in single file just to follow. While Yan Lin fished through her bag for her keys, Halinor couldn't help but comment on the space as she was enclosed between Kadma and Nerissa.

"Well, it's certainly _cozy_."

Yan Lin frowned at her, then at last stuck the key in the hole and entered the studio apartment, which only had one room and bathroom to boast. Yan Lin made herself comfortable by laying her things down, grabbing the large book out from under her bed before laying down upon it. She invited the other girls to make themselves at home as well, and they thankfully agreed. Kadma was the only one that insisted on standing.

"Here," Yan Lin motioned for them to come and see. "This how it work. We stand close. Girl with Heart speak words. We change, and then--"

"Change?" Halinor said with nervousness in her voice. "How so? You mean in powers or in appearance?"

"Yes," Yan Lin replied. "Clothes and powers, yes. We will look like Guardians in picture. See?"

She turned the book around to show them, and the girls gathered around to look closer.

"Strange, but nice enough," Cassidy admitted. "So where do we try it? In here?"

"What if it blows up?" Halinor protested in now clearly evident fear.

"Why would it blow up?" Nerissa asked. "It's just a jewel."

"What if we're the wrong girls?" Halinor insisted. "Or what if it's so old the magic inside it became unstable?"

"Do you _really_ think that's possible?" Kadma asked with cynicism.

"Hey," Halinor countered. "We all have superpowers. Right now, I'll believe _anything_ is possible."

Then silence overcame the room, which was the only reason they were quiet enough to hear it. A ringing; a small jingling sound which made them all look around for the source. Nerissa, as instinct, immediately put her hand over the noisy little Heart, then remembered she didn't need to hide it here. She pulled it over her head to look at directly.

"All of the girls are _here_, dummy," she said to it. "What are you ringing for _now_?"

That's when the Heart began to rise and hover, all on it's own, causing Nerissa to drop it immediately in fright, letting out a small squeal and jumping away from it, which only scared the others into doing the same.

"What happen?" Yan Lin was the first to ask.

"It moved!" Nerissa explained. "Toward your book! Didn't you see?"

"Pick it up again," Yan Lin commanded, holding up the book in preparation. Sure enough, when Nerissa held it, it hovered again, while she held it by the leash of its silver chain. Then it began to move toward the book once more, much to the confusion of all.

"I wonder…" Yan Lin said, flipping through the pages of the book until she reached the very end. Hidden behind the back page of the book was a small piece of folded up parchment, though when she opened it up the girls found that it was blank.

"Was that there before?" Cassidy asked.

"Yes," Yan Lin replied. "I found paper in book, but never threw away. Felt wrong. Here, hold Heart closer."

And as Nerissa did, something happened that made them all gasp. On the paper, as if an invisible painter was dragging his brush over it, black lines began to appear. As Nerissa moved the Heart around, so did the lines follow it. Quickly, they saw that it was a map of Greenbrook.

When it finished filling up the page with its lines and colors, as a final touch, a large red X appeared on it, like one would mark buried treasure.

"That's in the park," Nerissa said excitedly. "That's not far from here. I wonder what's there?"

"It could be anything!" Halinor said, rubbing her hands together greedily. "Like money, or artifacts, or even something magical!"

"We go see?" Yan Lin asked the others. Cassidy looked around at the rest of them, trying to guess if they were of one mind.

"We go see," Cassidy approved with certain satisfaction.

-

**Please review.   
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	6. Chapter 5: 'X' Marks the Spot

**A/N: To get facts, character concepts and news, go to my profile and click on my homepage to see my _'Former Guardians'_ official site. Thanks!**

-

**Chapter 5:**

-

In a gray pierced sky, a tall, pale man stood on the balcony of a vast storybook castle, once white in color, now turned black through dark magic. His chin was held high, a cold look on his face. His new home in Metamoor suited him fine, and everything in his agenda was going according to plan. To the mage named Favian Roarke, times could not be better.

"The queen will not be moved, sir, no matter what we do," a young dark-haired man informed his master. "Her strength of mind exceeds any of ours. It seems the only thing containing her wrath upon us is that bracelet of yours."

"No matter," Favian replied good-naturedly. Nothing could get him down now. "We don't need her anymore; our damage has been done. Move her to the dungeons."

"We've also gotten word, sir," the man went on. "They are to bring the new Guardians soon."

"To be expected," he retorted with an assuring nod. "I am ready for them."

-

"This is it," Nerissa said, holding the magical map in her hands and staring out into the empty park. "This is where the map's 'X' is."

They girls looked around intently for anything out of the ordinary without much success.

"You think we should have brought shovels?" Halinor asked, just as Cassidy shushed them, and looking to something in the back of them.

"What is it?" Nerissa whispered to her in confusion.

"Just wait," Cassidy said, putting up her hand to stop them. The three other girls froze together and simply followed Cassidy's gaze to find out what her fuss was about.

"I don't see anything," Halinor whispered.

"Look again," Yan Lin commanded, spotting something odd too.

There was something under the park bridge that shone with a faint glow… Something not normal…

"What is it?" Cassidy wondered.

"A light…" Yan Lin struggled to explain. "Come from nowhere…"

Suddenly out from under the bridge came a figure, dark and tall. The shining light behind him and the darkness of the bridge arch made him nothing more than a silhouette. Halinor hid behind Yan Lin for protection.

Then the light began to fade, revealing more and more of the mysterious figure's face.

"It's a boy!" Cassidy exclaimed as the figure stepped into the daylight.

"No," Halinor said with an approving nod. "That's a _man_."

And this man was handsome, with a stern face and chiseled features. His hair was dark, and his eyes were gold, and he dressed in extremely odd clothing, like he was crossing between futuristic and medieval styles. Strapped to his back was a long stick, forked at the ends which gave the assumption that it was a weapon of some kind.

When he saw the girls, he grasped the stick firmly with one hand, as if preparing to whip it out and attack at any excuse.

"Whoa there, big thunder," Halinor said, backing off. "I like 'em feisty, but not _murderous_."

"State your name and species!" he demanded.

Cassidy snickered.

"I'm Sputnik from the planet _Dork_on," she said with strong sarcasm. "Who are _you_ supposed to be, Ranger Boy? Besides _crazy_, I mean… and where did you come from?"

"I cannot say, unless you are the…"

"New Guardians?" Yan Lin finished for him. He nodded, and took his hand off his weapon, and stood up from his attack position.

"_You're_ the new Guardians?" he asked with disbelief.

"Yup!" Cassidy said happily. "We're them!"

He frowned, and looked around to see if there were joking, as if maybe the real Guardians would jump out from behind the trees and say "gotcha!"… But no such luck. Finally, convinced they were indeed the only ones in the park, he looked them each over in turn and then at last, chuckled.

"What's the matter?" Kadma asked patiently.

"You're all little girls," he observed.

"And what's wrong with that?" Cassidy demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

"Nothing!" he assured them. "It's just that… every other guardian I've ever heard of… in all the legends of the Veil… have been _grown_ women. You are all barely of age, you see— so you come as a bit of a surprise."

"Well," Yan Lin defended. "Book say Oracle choose us, not _we_ choose us."

"Yeah…" he said with a bewildered shake of the head. "Greetings to you all then. My name is Ashlee."

Halinor's turn to giggle.

"What?" he asked with wonder.

"That's a _girl's_ name," she explained.

"You can call me 'Ash' if you like. In Meridian it's a very common boys name," he argued. "Never heard it on a girl before. And you are…?"

"Halinor," she replied.

"And you think _my_ name's funny… And you?" he pointed at the others in turn.

"Cassidy."

"Kadma."

"Yan Lin."

"Nerissa."

"Alright then," he said with a nod. "Well, com'on. I am to show you around, and I fear our time is limited. I wasted enough time hiding and waiting around this strange world for you to come."

He turned to go back the way he came, but the girls stayed put. When he realized he wasn't being followed, he stopped and looked back in confusion.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"There's nothing there," Cassidy explained.

"Not yet," Ash said with a reassuring grin. They then saw that he held a strange metal object in his hand, which he promptly placed on the ground and stepped back. The girls looked around to see if the park was empty. Thankfully, only a few little ducks were their witnesses to this strange wonder.

"What is that thing?" Cassidy asked him as the object began to glow.

"The Crest of Obin," Ash explained as he watched the object glow brighter and brighter. "It can open a portal between the worlds anytime, anyplace. There's only one left in existence, so it's very valuable. Any other portal has to be made by a special magic, such as your Heart of Candracar… As such, this crest belongs to the Oracle himself. I'm using it on special permission."

Above the object a large circular light appeared under the covering of the park bridge. It glowed the color of ice, and made similar sounds to thunder and static. Needless to say, it didn't look very inviting.

"Well, let's go," Ash encouraged them right toward the swirling blue circle that hovered above the water.

"You want us to go _toward_ the scary light thing?" Halinor said in nervousness. "Think again."

Ash hung his head in defeat, rubbing his temples with impatience.

"Not only are they young girls, they are _cowardly_ young girls…" he mumbled to himself.

"I resent that!" Cassidy shouted, but Yan Lin put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"What exactly is in there?" Kadma asked.

"_Meridian_, of course," Ash said as if it was common knowledge.

Yan Lin grew excited at the word she recognized.

"Just like in book!" Yan Lin exclaimed. "It sound beautiful."

"The First Guardian's Journal, you mean? Glad you've read it," Ash said with approval. "Yes, beautiful, just like the first Heart-Holder describes in the book. She lived on earth, just like you, very long ago. But I must be rude and insist-- it's rather imperative that you learn as much as possible as quickly as possible."

Ash led them back into the water under the bridge as he spoke.

The crest gave out a bright blue light, and through the light appeared a sort of window, a window to a paradise. It was a scene straight from a storybook, it seemed, one of a flowing meadow, and a large white castle, and a quaint little village.

"Quickly! We have only seconds before it closes," he said as he passed through the light.

Ash stepped through, picking up the crest as he passed. Through the image in the circle, they could see him waving them in on the other side.

"You first," Halinor said to Cassidy, who promptly shook her head 'no' in reply.

"I'll go first!" Yan Lin volunteered, stepping forward. The others fell silent at the littlest one of the all and her sudden bravery that exceeded their own.

Yan Lin bit her lip with determination and put her hand out before herself, letting it go through first. Then she squealed and yanked it back.

"What!" Cassidy said with terror. "Was it hot? Cold? Painful at all?"

"No, it tickle," she explained with a laugh, then stepped through fully. Soon she was inside the image, waving them in.

Kadma sighed, and bravely stepped in too, followed by Nerissa.

"Well, I'm leaving. Have a nice life!" Halinor said, turning to go.

"Oh, I intend to," Cassidy agreed, doing the same.

Suddenly Kadma's hands appeared out of the portal, grabbing a wrist of each girl and yanking them through too, just before the portal sealed closed behind them.

-

Ashlee waited patiently as the others fell through, tumbling through the portal as if it was a slippery journey.

"You'll develop your gate-legs soon enough," Ash promised. "It's tricky the first time, I know."

The girls stood up and brushed off the dust they fell into, and took a look around.

"This is Meridian, girls," Ash explained, letting them take their time to gaze at the vast view on the top of the hill on which they stood. "Right now we are in peaceful lands, near the Meridian Plains. Our queen visited friends in this village regularly. Or… she did… until…"

"Until what?" Nerissa pressed.

"She was taken from us, in broad daylight," Ash said with regret. "I failed to save her… we were overwhelmed by large beings I have never seen before. Savage beasts and strange armored creatures. An army, brewed right beneath our noses. We didn't suspect it, until it was beyond opposing. They overtook the castle and made Metamoor dark once more."

He looked at them all seriously.

"This is why I petitioned to come and retrieve you myself. We have to mount a rescue using you five… and get her back from him."

"From who?"

"A mage named Favian Roarke."

Ash paused, like he was starting to have trouble speaking. It was almost like… embarrassment.

"We… thought he was on our side."

"Ooh, betrayal, intrigue, a rescue…" Kadma said, excitement drifting into her normally calm voice. "Sounds just like a mystery novel."

"This is just a _little_ different from anything at the library, bookworm," Halinor scoffed, and Kadma glared at her with disgust.

"As _if_ you have ever stepped foot into a library in your entire _life_," she promptly retorted.

"Halinor! Kadma!" Cassidy refereed. "Guys! Com'on! Don't you realize what he is sayin'? We have to risk our _lives_!" Cassidy studied their faces for a moment for any reaction from them. "That doesn't _scare_ you?"

"With these powers I feel like I can do anything," Halinor said with confidence.

"Oh, what good are _you_ going to do?" Kadma sneered. "Burn the villages down?"

"Stop being so jealous that my power is _better_ than yours."

"Girls, girls!" Ash spoke up at last, putting up his hands to calm them.

When they finally quieted, he shook his head in disbelief, rubbing the tension points on the bridge of his nose like he was fighting an imminent headache.

"I weep for our world," he said with a loud sigh.

-

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	7. Chapter 6: Troublesome Tred

**You guys reviewed so quickly, I was able to post a new chapter sooner than usual. You guys rock like that.**

**-**

**Chapter 6:**

**-**

"Listen," Ashlee went on to the girls, trying to calm their seemingly endless bickering, especially between Halinor and Kadma. "If your going to do any good for us at all your going to have to be in this together, or it won't work. You're all equal, with an equal purpose. We're going to need every one of you and every power you have to offer us. Let's concentrate on the task before us, please."

They all seemed fine with that idea and followed him onward up the hilled terrain.

"So, what's so important about this queen anyway?" Cassidy asked him as they walked on.

"This queen possesses the hope of all light nations and every person in them," Ash explained. "And she was born with a magic that balances the seasons, brings justice to the laws, and upholds all of our defenses. She is _every_thing to us."

"Wait," Nerissa interrupted. "If this queen is so mega-powerful and all, how is it she was able to be captured so easily in the first place? Couldn't she have voodoo-ed them all away?"

"Under different circumstances, yes," Ash said. "But Roarke is powerful himself. He certainly had been plotting this for years and he came indubitably prepared. In the Marsh Lands, there is a legend about a wristband that that has the cursed ability to take away a person's use of any light magic for any who wear it, rendering them powerless. Even if you could make it through the Marsh Lands to get it, you would have to go past a dark cave full of unspeakable creatures to get it. At least, that's how the legend goes. I now realize that not all tall tales are farse. I saw those creatures from the cave with my own eyes, on the day that the queen was captured. If you ever end up facing Roarke, I would keep away from that bracelet if I were you. It would paralyze the Heart as well, since you use the Heart with light magic."

Nerissa stared into the Heart with a newfound mystery. This little thing was ultra-magical? It would sure explain a lot.

"So where is Oracle?" Yan Lin piped up at last.

"Pardon?" Ashlee asked her, but Cassidy was the one to translate, as always.

"The book Yan Lin has at home talks about an Oracle giving us these powers. Where is he?"

"Oh!" Ash exclaimed. "Yes, the Oracle. He hasn't ordered a council in centuries… Most have forgotten about him and who he was. He likes it that way. The only reason I even know of him is because of my father, who was the leader of the armies, and part of the Council. Up until now the Oracle's had a little herb shop in the village of Cambrid. But now that the Guardians have returned, the council will be summoned once more."

They walked in silence for several moments, until Ash came beside Cassidy and said in a low voice:

"What is wrong with Yan Lin?"

"What do ya mean?" Cassidy asked in confusion.

"She doesn't speak like the rest of you. Why?"

Cassidy chuckled.

"She just has an accent. I do too, but it ain't as strong as hers. She's from another part of our world, and she just learned English 'bout a year ago. She's workin' on improvin' her grammer, but don't tell her she needs it or she'll get offended, fer sure."

"Ash!" a young male voice called from the distance.

A younger boy ran up then, a boy with a striking resemblance to Ash, but with lighter hair and eyes.

"Ash, we just got word from the spies," he said, panting with every word.

"And?"

The young boy finally noticed the guardian girls and smiled, seemingly impressed.

"_Goddesses_," he commented in amazement. "Celestial beings, divine heavenly _creatures_--"

"Focus, Tred," Ash insisted, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders to focus his attention to him. "What else did our spies say?"

"Oh," the young boy went on. "The queen was strong. They weren't able to get her to cooperate in any way. They've placed her in the lower dungeons indefinitely."

Ash squinted in thought.

"This buys us time," he said, obviously pleased. "She is safe then, for now. Tell the troops to fall back until further word."

"Already did," the boy replied, his eyes falling to the girls again. Ash seemed displeased with the boy, but didn't forsake his own manners, and took the liberty of introductions.

"Nerissa, Cassidy, Yan Lin, Halinor, and Kadma, this is my younger brother, Tred."

"Are these the new Guardians?" Tred said to Ash like the girls weren't standing right there.

"Yes," Ash replied with obvious dismay at admitting it. "Our saviors."

"They're little _girls_," Tred insisted.

"We know," they piped in together with impatience in each of their voices.

Tred shrugged.

"Well, it doesn't bother _me_…"

Though Tred was still distracted by the new guardians, Ashlee still demanded his brother's attention. Poor Ash reminded Yan Lin of a frustrated father, dealing with an unruly child. He spoke clearly and slowly, as to make sure young Tred was listening.

"Tred, take the girls down to the Crux and get them started on obstacle training. I'm going to visit the map room and plan our retrieval of the queen."

"Yes, great leader," Tred said with a mocking salute. "Come on then, girlies."

"And Tred?" Ash added.

"Yes, great leader?"

Ash frowned at the name.

"Behave," he instructed.

Tred sneered at his brother disrespectfully, but Ash was already on his way down a nearby hill and didn't seem to see, or perhaps just didn't care. Tred motioned for the girls to follow him in the opposite direction, and left before they had a chance to obey.

"You're Ash's _brother_?" Halinor said when they caught up with Tred.

"Hard to believe we're related, I know…" he said with a sigh, running a hand through his caramel-colored hair. "But sadly, yes. That stiff-necked, over-controlling, uptight shell of a man is my brother."

"I take it you two don't get along well," Kadma observed blatantly.

"Right you are," Tred admitted. "Brothers in blood, but we don't share much else in common. Here I'm in the infantry for three years and I'm still doing grunt-work, while he's off getting medals. Everyone thinks he's _so_ perfect," Tred said with a hint of jealousy in his tone. "That _last_ mistake sure opened everyone's eyes."

"You mean the capture of the queen," Cassidy assumed. "He mentioned something about failing to save her… Was it his fault?"

"Might as well have been. He's still beating himself up for it. I've never seen him like this before."

"How do you mean?" Kadma asked.

"He's been very depressed since it happened. He's discouraged. Maybe ashamed. I didn't think he could _get_ any more serious than he was before… he proved me wrong. He doesn't even smile anymore."

"Oh, how sad!" Kadma exclaimed. "The man must be absolutely heartbroken."

"You have no idea," Tred said with a hidden meaning. "But! Enough about him. Let me show you something."

At the bottom of the hill, just beyond the village houses, was a large building with tall arched wooden doors, each carved with a strange symbol. It was a kind of star, struck through with a cross and surrounded by a curtain of blue.

"What's that?" Cassidy said quietly to Yan Lin, pointing to the carvings as they walked toward the building's double-doors.

"Um, it common symbol of army, I think," Yan Lin guessed. "Mark of Arandeenair?"

"That's pronounced the Mark of _Hrandinar_," Tred corrected. "Symbol of the allegiance. And through these doors, is a sacred place called the Crux-- training center for the armies, helped built by the first Guardians themselves."

Suddenly Yan Lin stopped, which provoked the others to do the same.

"Do you hear?" Yan Lin said curiously. "It sound like yelling, like _fighting_…"

Everyone fell silent to listen.

"It's coming from _inside_," Tred said fearfully. Slowly he pushed open the double doors, and together gasped at the sight before them.

Hundreds of armed soldiers fought amongst themselves, with clanging armor and clashing swords, with many wounded and killed already scattered across their midst. A stable nearby was in flames, and so was what looked like an armory shed. Men were screaming and combating all around.

"Is this how you usually train your soldiers?" Nerissa asked calmly, but Tred was too much in shock to reply.

-

**Sorry this chapter was a little on the short side, but the first transformation is coming up, and it was too long for one chapter, so I had to put it into the next chapter. Needless to say, the next one will be much longer. So until then, please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	8. Chapter 7: The Battle for the Crux

**-**

**Chapter 7:**

-

"Tred!" said a young soldier who came running up in exhaustion. Tred grabbed him and they hid outside the walls of the battlefield of a courtyard.

"Sir, they've revolted!" the man explained. "Over half our men suddenly took up arms and attacked the others… It's another mutiny! They're sided with Roarke! It's an ambush!"

Tred stood paralyzed, his mouth open but no words coming out of it.

"I-- uh…"

"Where is Ash?" the man asked frantically. "We need your brother! He can band the troops-- he can reason with them--"

"No!" Tred burst out at once. "We don't need him. There's no time anyway. We have to act now or the Crux will be lost."

Tred looked to the girls, as if just remembering they were there.

"Besides," he added. "We have _them_."

"Are they the--"

"Yes, we are," Nerissa said.

"But they're just--"

"Yes, we are," she said again.

"But Tred," Halinor said. "We just _got_ these powers! We can't fight a battle, save the army, we don't even know what we're doing-- we could die! I don't want to-- I can't fight!"

"You can, and you _must_!" Tred said angrily. "Just go out there, say the magic words and _do_ something!"

"Oh God," Halinor said, beginning to hyperventilate. "I can't do this. I didn't sign up for this!"

"Oh, do shut up!" Kadma commanded her. "It can't be that hard… can it?"

She looked to Yan Lin for confirmation, but fear was obvious in Yan Lin's eyes.

"Com'on!" Nerissa said, stepping up with the Heart in hand. "We have superpowers, how bad could it be? Uh…what _are_ the magic words, Tred?"

Tred looked back at Nerissa, his face white as a ghost.

"What, you don't _know_?"

Nerissa smiled shakily, while once again, Yan Lin stepped forward.

"You must say 'Guardian's unite' loud so that Heart can hear."

So the group surrounded Nerissa, who stood in the middle of their circle, bravely holding the Heart in her fist and gathering her breath to shout:

"Wait, wait!" Halinor said, stepping back. "I changed my mind. I don't think this is such a good idea—I mean, what if that thing is secretly an atom bomb or something? I mean, let's think about this--"

"_Guardians unite_!" Nerissa shouted at last.

Sudden a flash of light erupted from her and in that split second of blindness, they arose into the air, colored orbs appearing around them and altering their appearance. Nerissa was the first to burst through her bubble, using the jewel to punch through.

"I still have the Heart!" Nerissa shouted. "Is everyone all right? Sound off!"

"Water!" Cassidy was the first to shouted, as the bubble around her burst too. The others began to do the same.

"Fire!" Halinor yelled out next.

"Earth!" Kadma joined in.

"Air!" Yan Lin shouted last.

While the rest of the girls paused for a moment to examine their strange new attire, Yan Lin was already heading in the door of the Crux, into the heat of the battle. A large gust of wind came from nowhere and surrounded her, almost knocking the others down.

"Yan, wait!" Cassidy called after her through the noise of the wind. She frowned at her brave friend, then grew determined, and ran off herself.

"Com'_on_!" Kadma commanded, grabbing Halinor's sleeve and forcing her to follow.

Tred then turned to the panicky man. "Just try and figure out who's on our side!"

"How?" he asked Tred in complete befuddlement, but Tred was already unsheathing his weapon and running into the battle.

"What do we do?" Halinor shouted to the other girls. Yan Lin just shrugged and mustered up some wind power to separate people from fighting each other. It didn't help much though, considering that they just got up and went back to hurting each other again.

"How do you do that?" Cassidy called to her.

"I wish for power and it come!" Yan Lin replied.

So Cassidy concentrated on what had to be done, feelings her surroundings for a hint of moisture. She soon realized she didn't need it; that her hands were already starting to drip water from her fingertips.

She then positioned herself in front of one of the burning buildings. Slowly she put up her hands before her, then closed her eyes and wished hard.

She opened her eyes when she felt the cold moisture from her hands, and the sizzling sounds of the water hitting the fire.

Together, Kadma and Halinor ran through the large arched doors and to the battle taking place before them.

Halinor's hands were already feeling the heat swell in her palms, and soon a ball of flame ignited in each. It pleased her greatly.

Kadma's hands felt a twinge of pins-and-needles pain in each palm, before vines sprouted from her hands as well.

But they were at a loss on what way to use these powers. They needed directions, for fear of making matters worse.

"What do we do, Tred?" Halinor yelled over the commotion to the young man. "I don't want to miss and burn any of the good people!"

"My wind making fire worse, Tred!" Yan Lin called over with worry.

"The heat is too much!" Cassidy said in pain. "I can't breathe in here…"

"Tred!" Nerissa called in anger, seeing her teammates suffering around her. "What are we going to _DO_?"

"I…" Tred seemed overwhelmed and at a loss for words, his head spinning, struggling to find inspiration that wouldn't come. Panic began to consume all rational thought. "I… uh… just… don't _know_!"

Terror crept up on the girls too, for they understood now that their once fearless young leader Tred had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He was not his older brother and he now realized how obviously that was true.

"Cassidy!" Ash shouted, suddenly appearing from nowhere to save the day. "Get started on dousing the armory fires; our soldiers need those weapons right now! Yan Lin, you help her by making as much wind as you can to direct the water onto the fires. Halinor, try to use your heat to force the men by the eastern wall away from each other. Nerissa, you help her. We can't tell whose on our side, but at least we can stop the fighting altogether. Kadma, I need you to try the same on the western end, and try to make a wood wall around the back door too, to be sure no one goes in, or out from that end. I want to be sure they have to use the front gate. Tred! Save the horses in the stable, find Falco, Ryder, and Cambridge and start a cavalry. Fight only in defense."

Tred began to open his mouth in protest, but seemed to decide against it and headed for the stables as instructed.

Ash turned back to the battle, unsheathing the large staff on his back, and held it loosely in his hand as he walked into the eye of the hurricane that was Crux courtyard, fighting anyone who fought against him, for he knew that anyone who fought against him was definitely working for Roarke.

But he was overwhelmed by three at once, and immediately swept his staff low, tripping them on their backs. Four more came from the left, seemingly intent on the killing of the leader as their only objective. One took a blow to the face, while another to the chest. But the two other soldiers he once worked beside kept coming at him with murder in their eyes. Then beyond them he saw a welcome face in the midst of the crowd.

"Judias!" he called to his friend. "Help me!"

The man came rushing over to his aid, and fought his way through the soldiers to get to Ash. They fell easily under his sword, and between him and Ash's staff they were quickly taken down.

"Thanks," Ash said to his friend, genuinely glad for the help.

"You shouldn't thank me yet," he replied.

Suddenly Judias took his sword and lunged for Ash, taking him by surprise. Ash tried to avoid the blow, but he barely managed to avoid it, the sword only falling to his shoulder instead of his heart.

"Judias!" Ash moaned through his new pains. "You too?"

"Under Roarke's rule there will be no rules," he explained. "And I'll make sure you'll never do anything about it."

He yelled and lifted his sword about his head, preparing for the killing strike. Ash dodged, and took the fork of his own staff and drove it into Judias's ribcage, with a great sorrow of doing so.

Some man near the front called for a retreat, and the mutinous men ran out of the Crux to head for Metamoor and their new leader.

"Follow them!" Ash yelled, holding his newly wounded shoulder to keep it from bleeding freely. Kadma, who was just coming over to Ash, shook her head in protest.

"Disregard him!" she countered the order to the men. "Ash, you can't order a strike when you can barely stand. You are in no condition to fight."

Another friend of Ash's, who rode on one of the stable horses, dismounted in front of Ash and started for his hurt friend.

"She's right!" the young blond man observed with worry and a bit of shock, his large green cat-like eyes intently locked on the leader.

Ash gripped his bo and remained alert and suspicious of the man.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Ash," the boy said. "It's me! What kind of a comrade do you take me for?"

"I can't be sure anymore, Sydrin. Judias was the one who just stabbed me."

"Surely you _jest_?"

"No joke. Lay down your weapon, then come over."

So Sydrin did so, then came to help his friend to his feet.

"Falco!" Ash called to a nearby man on horseback. "Be sure to interrogate everyone left here, and search them for any unfamiliar symbols. Roarke is sure to have marked his territory."

"Of course, sir," the older man replied. "You should get to the medical cabin."

Ash frowned at his comrade, but nodded.

People were soon parted, some following the retreat into the hills, some staying to finish fighting them off, and some still being rounded up by the girls. Soon, only about three hundred loyals were left, armed and standing behind Ash, waiting to see any other traitors. There were none left to be found.

In immediate anger, Ash stormed over to his brother, giving him an unwavering, ice cold glare. The girls watched from a safe distance as Ash scolded his brother.

"What were you _thinking_!" Ash demanded to know. "Were you thinking at _all_? Why didn't you come for me?"

Tred shrugged like it was no big deal.

"You weren't around. I wasn't just going to run from the battle to go get my _big brother_ for help."

"We all saw how much you 'helped', Tred," Ash said harshly. "You think too impulsively, and only of _your_ personal gain. We lost more men than we should've today, because of _your_ foolishness! And you always complain of why you are never promoted like I am… well, this should be an eye-opening example to you, shouldn't it?"

Ash noticed that the soldiers around were staring at the quarrel, and foresaw it best to let Tred slide for now, rather than to openly embarrass him further. Ash turned his back to his brother, deciding the matter was done.

"Oh _please_," Tred challenged to Ash's back. He was obviously not finished yet. "We all know the reason the queen appointed you leader, Ash, and it had nothing to do with skill or rank. That wound there shows how much skill you really _possess_."

Kadma gasped, watching as Ash stopped in his tracks, clench his fists, and slowly turn to his brother, rage obvious in his flaring eyes and stiff posture. Cassidy, Nerissa, Yan Lin, and Halinor murmured to one another, intently staring as to what Ash would say to this.

Ash took slow steps toward his brother, speaking clearly and firmly to his brother.

"Tred, you had best close your mouth while you still _have_ one, because you speak of what you do not even know. You were not there on the battle of Fort Fidach, when I earned the status of flank leader, or the battle of Borestii Plains, where I earned my valiance mark, and not even the ambush at Derwent Forest, where I earned my right hand promotion. You do not know, because you were not there, and you were not there, because you are foolish in everything you do. End of discussion."

"I'm not a _child_, Ash!" Tred shouted.

"Then start proving to me otherwise!" Ash yelled even louder back.

"I don't have to prove anything to _you_!" Tred insisted. "Just because Father made you take that oath doesn't mean you can _be_ him!"

"At least I _try_ to do justice to the name he left behind, instead of _disgracing_ it."

Ash angrily stormed away, refusing help of any kind and walking over to the medical tent, his pain obvious, but his anger and stubbornness stronger. The girls followed him over, as did that fair-haired boy Sydrin. The rest just got to work at cleaning up the damage, and Tred went off in a huff for an unknown destination.

"You can't be angry at yourself," Kadma said, jogging a bit to catch up with Ash, who was just entering the medical cabin. "This battle isn't your fault."

"I should have known. I shouldn't have left. I should have known not to trust anyone anymore, not even my own men. I've certainly learned that lesson now."

He examined his wound with regret. It was sure to leave a scar, promising to forever remind him of his mistake.

"I'm sorry you had to see this, girls," he went on. "But times are bleak and very treacherous, which is really the reason you are here at all."

"We understand," Kadma said seriously. "We're just glad we could help."

"I'm going to have to send you five home," Ash explained as he laid on the examining table with a pained groan cracking his voice.

"I thought we were supposed to train?" Nerissa insisted.

"Five minutes of real life combat is worth five months of training. I consider today's fiasco enough for you all for a while. You performed splendidly, by the way."

"Hey," Halinor said excitedly. "He's right! We did okay, didn't we?"

"More than okay, even," Kadma agreed.

"I have no qualms about preparing that rescue mission now," Ash confirmed with a nod. "But first, I'm going to heal. I will come for you once the worst of the wound has passed. For now, you have your lives to lead. I'm sure your parents will be worried for you."

"Oh, God," Cassidy said, slapping her forehead. "I practically forgot about the other side. Yeah, I'll agree and say it's time to go."

"Use the Heart to come back anytime," Ash explained. "Just make sure all portals are closed behind you."

"Will do," Nerissa promised, putting the ping-pong ball-sized jewel in her pocket for safekeeping.

The girls exited through the door one by one, until only Kadma remained. She lingered for a moment in the doorway to look back sorrowfully at Ash.

"Ashlee," she said firmly.

"Yes, what is it?" he said absentmindedly as he attempted to bandage his own arm, not wanting to wait for the doctor to do it.

"What Tred said about the queen… Is it true?"

Ash looked up to Kadma, giving her his full attention, and sighed very heavily.

"You should catch up with the others," he said in a voice barely above a whisper, and went back to what he had been doing.

-

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	9. Chapter 8: Ash's Mysterious Mark

**A/N: Hello readers! I have now posted the character concept pictures of Queen Wilona, Favian Roarke and Ashlee. Go to my profile page, click on my 'homepage' link to visit the official _'Former Guardians'_ site to see them.**

**-**

**Chapter 8:**

-

"Wow!" Hay Lin exclaimed, twirling in her bar stool seat. "I knew it! The handsome leader of the armies that was in love with the queen was really Ash! That is _so_ cool. I love the way you surprise me, Grandma Lin."

"Stories should always be entertaining," Grandma Lin agreed with a pleased smile. "Even if they are true."

"I can't imagine what must have been going through Ash's head, having his love being captured like that by the big bad guy! What a mind job, huh?"

"For certain."

"But I still don't understand something. Why couldn't they just be in love out in the open? Why was it outlawed for the queen to be in love?"

"Well, back then the law said that the queen must be married to a person of noble birth. Ash, though leader of the armies by right of his father, was born into a farmer's family."

"Aww, how sad!" Hay Lin lamented. "So just because his family isn't rich he can't marry her?"

"Well, it's much more complicated then that. If anyone knew the queen had fallen for the man who used to be her bodyguard, she would be considered loose and untrustworthy among her people. To her, that would be devastating, for how much she valued the love of her people."

"Well, I still say the laws are stupid."

"Even if the law allowed them to get married, Hay Lin, it was a matter of inconvenience to them both in their current situations. If Ash married the queen he would take rightful place as king. He would sit on a throne and not be leader of the armies anymore. The rights would be passed to Tred."

"Ooohhhh, I get it," Hay Lin said with a nod. "His army needed him too."

"So you see, Meridian needed them both, and they were very wise people and knew that. They knew to sacrifice themselves was their way of saving the people, even at the cost of only being half alive."

"Wow, that's such a bummer. I was really hoping they would end up together."

Yan Lin smiled, and said nothing for a moment.

"I'm glad you're enjoying the story, Hay Lin, even if it is a history lesson."

"You make it interesting, Grandma. Keep going, please!"

"Of course, Hay Lin…"

-

"Your Highness," Roarke said calmly, outside the bars of the queen's cramped dungeon cell. "Not still angry with me, are you?"

It was cold and musty and with not much food given, but that was not what wiped the smile from Queen Wilona's face. She did not answer the traitor, nor give him any recognition that she had heard him at all. This was a man that had stripped her of her power and compromised everything she had ever worked for. He was truly the bane of her entire existence, and yet he insisted on making nice, knowing it would be the only way to achieve anything he desired.

"My darling," Roarke coaxed in a smooth voice, bending down to her level. "Surely you cannot be mad forever. You used to trust me, love me as one of your own…"

"I cannot care for a treacherous man that will bring about the end of all things," she retorted sharply.

Roarke smiled broadly, amused by her words.

"I am merely forcing a… new _light_ on the subject."

But the queen would not be converted.

"You are following in the footsteps of the Demented One to finish what he started the last time the veil was opened all those years ago, when I was merely a child. You cannot fool me with your words of flattery and deception anymore, Favian."

"Pity," he sighed with a sort of mocking regret. He stood upright, as if he was accepting her decision as one not to be changed. He had a sorrowful look upon his face, like the look a father gets when his son is unruly… and must now be punished.

"I suppose I figured as much, my dear," he said. "So, as such, steps _had_ to be taken."

The Queen Wilona looked to him for the first time that conversation.

"'Steps'?"

Roarke turned toward the door, his expression fighting hard to forbid his true emotion from showing.

"What steps, Favian?" Wilona insisted with worry creeping into her tone. She reached through the bars and grabbed the end of his robe to keep him from leaving.

He looked down at her pale, white hand upon his garment, his expression now blank and unfeeling.

"I shall ask you plainly, my dear," Favian warned. "Are you going to wed me? Think about your words before you answer."

"_Wed_ you?" she spat with surprise, letting go of his garment with disgust. "But you are so very _aged_!"

"Come, come now, my dear," he said with offense. "I'm in my prime!"

The queen glared at him, finally seeing into the man's head.

"So not only do you desire my alliance for the sake of controlling my people, you desire my hand in marriage for your own whims."

"I am no young sprite like your Ashlee, my dear," he admitted, his voice falling low and husky, coming closer to her. Wilona felt glad the bars kept him away from her.

"All those years," he said. "Keeping my mouth shut about you two, watching you shed a glance there, a loving touch there… All the while keeping my own wants quiet. I assure you, Highness, I am quite able to live up to being a husband once more."

He grasped her hand in his, bringing it to his face and stroking her soft skin against his own cheek.

"Especially to one as… _beautifully_ endowed as you."

"I shall not," she replied promptly, yanking her hand from his before he could bring it to his mouth.

"But you did not think any on the matter."

"It's a decision which requires no consideration. To marry you would be defeat, to surrender and tell my people I deny all I have believed in for all of my life and agree with your tyrannical ways. Not to mention your eyes look upon me with nauseating lust."

"My dear…" Roarke said with an eerily sweet voice, approaching her cell even closer. "You can rot in this cell for as long as it takes. How am I to have control over your subjects if we are not in agreement?"

"I shall not be swayed," she said with intrepid strength.

"We shall see. Until tomorrow then, Your Highness. And do consider tonight, if you are willing to let those very subjects you are trying to protect be_ hanged_ one by one every day you deny me… Starting with your dear _Ashlee_. And believe me, my darling, I shall have no regrets of doing so."

He bowed with more mockery, then left her sight.

"Tomorrow, my dear, I will have hoped you have reassessed your decision."

As the door slammed closed after him, Wilona collapsed to the floor in tears.

-

Cassidy was the last to step through the portal to the Earthen side, and she, like the rest of them, felt a little strange to be back home. For a slight moment, they had purpose, and the troubles they dealt with were not their own. Now the problems they had here, like school, family, and the like, seemed trivial compared to what they had just seen. It was a lot to digest.

"Home seem very different now, yes?" Yan Lin said, echoing Cassidy's thoughts.

"It's pretty much how we left it, Yan," Nerissa teased with a smile.

"Yeah, it just _feel_ strange."

"I wonder how much time has passed on this side," Kadma thought out loud. "The sun is lower than when we left, so I'm guessing about the same amount as the time spent in Meridian."

"Good thought," Cassidy agreed.

Kadma looked to the ground as they walked.

"When are we going to go back?" she asked Nerissa. "I find myself anxious to return. I am very concerned for Ashlee's well-being."

Halinor, who trailed behind Kadma, snickered and mumbled teasing doubts behind her back. Kadma didn't glare, or respond in any way to Halinor's juvenile reaction, just turned to her besides saying:

"I will not give you the pleasure of rising to your bait, but I _will_ assure you that my interest in Ash is purely humane."

"_Sure_ it is," Halinor muttered.

Soon, the fork in the road came, where they were forced to part ways.

"We'll go back tomorrow after school," Nerissa finally answered.

"Well, I'll be seeing ya," Halinor said to the others, feeling a bit conversationally awkward.

"Until tomorrow, ladies," Nerissa said with a wave.

-

The guardians stepped through the portal like old pros, stepping through as naturally as on would step through a door. Once there, they breathed in the fresh, untainted air greedily. The vast plains were littered with tall pale grass and white wildflowers, which no doubt birthed the name of the White Lands.

Nerissa called them all back to reality and together they made their way down to the Crux, enjoying the beauty of the lands all the way there.

Once at the gates, they smiled at the gateman politely and asked where Ash was being kept.

"In medical tent number one, my dears," the man said gladly. "And might I just say, it is an honor to see you all again."

That's when they began to grasp how important they really were to these people. They all were supposed to be capable of great things. They could only hope they might live up to their expectations… and more.

They quickly found the tent marked with a symbol embroidered on its curtain door, one Yan Lin proudly recognized from her book. It was the symbol of healing and below it was the numeral symbol for one. If she were correct in her research, Ash would be just inside. The two guards to each side of them paid them all no mind, knowing quite well who they were. They were glad for it.

So Kadma swept the curtain aside and stepped through first, and once inside she took a deep breath and couldn't let it go.

There was the man Ashlee, who was reading a small piece of parchment on his cot, a blanket over his legs, revealing only his unclothed and very muscular torso.

Ash noticed the frozen statue of Kadma in his doorway immediately, and quickly put the letter in a nearby drawer as if hiding it, which aroused a certain suspicion in her.

"Kadma," Ash said in a casual tone, as she finally stepped aside and let the other guardians in as well. "I wasn't expecting you all for a few days at least."

"Sorry we barged in on you," Cassidy said. "But we all wanted to see how you were doing after that wound yesterday."

Ash arose and grabbed at a shirt hurriedly.

"Did we come at a bad time?" Kadma asked, trying to fight her embarrassment at Ashlee's handsome bared chest and midriff and force her eyes elsewhere.

Yan Lin noticed he was tattooed with two symbols, but she set out immediately to decipher their meanings. She could tell that the first was a mark for valiance in battle, which according to the book was only given for highly dangerous situations and usually involved putting yourself in great peril to save another.

"We could leave if you want," Halinor offered. "Or wait outside."

Ash slowed down his eagerness to cover up, as to not make their suspicions grow.

"No, it's fine," he reassured them. "Just wasn't ready for you, is all."

The other mark, if Yan Lin was surely not mistaken, was the symbol for…

"Is that…" she said, intently peering at the small rectangular tattoo on his left peck. "Is that mark for…?"

Ash threw caution to the wind and immediately pulled the shirt on to cover the mark.

"It's nothing," Ash said a little too quickly. "Pay it no mind."

Kadma narrowed her eyes indefinitely, feeling her suspicions had been confirmed. That mark was something Ash didn't want them to know about.

Something bad.

-

**Ah, whatever could the mark mean? Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	10. Chapter 9: The Forbidden Marshes

**-**

**Chapter 9:**

-

"No!" Hay Lin cried. "What does the mark mean? I take it back—I don't like your surprises anymore. You can't make Ash a bad guy—I like him too much!"

"Quiet, Hay Lin," her grandmother commanded. "I can't control a true story. I cannot control the characters actions, though in retrospect I wish that I could… You will know soon enough if you are patient… and silent!"

"Sorry…" Hay Lin cowered, and awaited her grandmother's continuance.

-

Yan Lin looked around everywhere for Cassidy and Nerissa after school the next day. After they had discovered Ash's strange mark, things had been quite uncomfortable, and they went home. Kadma, most of all, seemed quite distressed by it. If it had not been for Kadma, Yan Lin might've not given it a second thought, but as Yan Lin went straight back to her apartment to look it up in her book, she wished she had done just that and shrugged it off. She had vowed then, to talk to Ash about it first, before revealing the truth about him to the others.

Yan Lin tapped her foot impatiently, waiting by the angel fountain in the courtyard like the friends had agreed while passing notes in class.

She spotted Cassidy making her way over, her head down and her eyes ahead glued to her destination.

Yan Lin couldn't understand why they received such strange looks when she and her new friends talked, or when they sat together in class, but today, as Cassidy walked so determinedly over, ignoring the jests of those she passed, Yan Lin began to get it.

It should have seemed so obvious, how different they all were. Yan Lin was the 'new kid', a lost foreigner who barely had a grasp on the language. Cassidy was the Southern sweetheart, too nice to say anything bad of anyone without great excuse, much less fight back to mockery. Nerissa was a loner, a dark individual with no friends. Halinor was the popular with secrets, for though she dressed like she had money, those closest to her knew she hadn't two dimes to rub together. Thank goodness Kadma had a home tutor, so she wouldn't have to suffer the daily horrors of high school in the 1940's.

"Where's Nerissa?" Cassidy demanded, her face flushed with embarrassment from the jokes at her expense. "She's usually the first one here."

"I do not know," Yan Lin explained, equally worried for her.

"_Psst_!" she then heard from the nearby shrubbery. Yan Lin immediately began to look around for the source, but Cassidy was too busy hiding her face from her oppressors to notice.

"_Pssst_!" the hissing noise was heard again, but this time Yan Lin had found its origins.

"Nerissa?" she wondered out loud. "Why are you in bush?"

"_Shhh_!" Nerissa commanded her, much to her confusion, then motioned for her to come closer.

"Are they gone?" Nerissa whispered worriedly.

"No," Yan Lin replied. "Girls still there."

"Not the girls," she said. "Steve West and his friends!"

"Oh, _him_!" Yan Lin said, finally getting it. "No, he not here."

"Steve West?" Cassidy repeated in wonder, tuning into the conversation. "Isn't he a jock? You have some sort of fancy for him, or what?"

"No, you misunderstand," Yan Lin struggled to explain as she helped Nerissa from the bushes that didn't want to release her just yet.

But before Yan Lin could finish, Nerissa thrust herself back into the hedges, taking Yan Lin down with her. Cassidy saw why.

For just then, a gorgeous brown-haired, blue-eyed boy and his friends came passing by. The handsome one excused himself from his friends and came running up to Nerissa with an anxious look.

"Hey, you're Cassidy Engelbert, right?" he asked her hopefully.

Cassidy could barely speak at this boy's splendor, so she just nodded.

"Steven West," the boy went on. "You're good friends with Nerissa, right? Nerissa Donovan?"

Suddenly Cassidy's smoothness returned, and she put her hand on her hip flirtatiously to the boy.

"Sure am," she said in a low voice, over-accentuating her accent a bit.

"Is she around?"

Cassidy glanced at the bush, where Nerissa was furiously shaking her head no.

"Nope, I'm afraid she's in over her head in shrubbery right now," she joked for her friends. Yan Lin stifled a giggle, but Nerissa was _not_ amused.

"Sorry?" Steve spat in confusion.

"Biology homework," Cassidy recovered suavely. "She has a paper due on plant life."

"Gotcha," Steve replied. "Well, next time you see her, could you tell her I'm looking for her? Our families are very old friends, but she's always so busy…"

"Sure thing," Cassidy agreed.

"Thanks so much," he said, flashing his amazing smile. "See ya."

"You know it," Cassidy promised with a similar grin, and watched as he went back to his friends and went on his way.

With that, Cassidy turned to the bush.

"Oh yes," she said with strong sarcasm. "_Very_ much worth avoiding with every _breath_ in you."

"Which I have," Nerissa said, climbing back out of the bush, her sunny dress now very dirty. "Since _kindergarten_."

"He's practically a Greek god!" Cassidy protested.

"And he used to throw mud at me and pull my hair."

"Surely he has grown since," Yan Lin added in.

"You don't know him like I do. He's about as annoying as they come."

"And as dreamy," Cassidy swooned. "So you don't mind if I…You know…"

Nerissa threw her arms up to the sky, as if praising the Lord.

"By all means!" Nerissa exclaimed happily. "Give him something to do besides _stalk_ me. Is Halinor coming?"

"You know her," Yan Lin replied sorrowfully. "She will not let friends see her with us. She say she will meet us at her work. Kadma too."

-

Cassidy thrust her book bag on the counter, and took a bar stool next to Kadma, as the others followed suit.

"Hey Kadma," she greeted her friend, who appeared to be still distressed. "What's wrong? Still upset?"

"I cannot believe Ash would hide something from us," she lamented. "What could the mark mean? Yan, did you look in your book?"

"I did," Yan Lin replied quickly, fumbling over words. "I saw it there, but…"

Yan Lin gulped, wondering if she _should_ reveal Ash's secret to her friends. She decided to stick to the plan and talk to Ash on it first, before anything.

"No meaning," she lied. Kadma didn't seem convinced of her lie, but she was the only one, so she let it go.

"So it could be anything," Nerissa said. "It could mean he's had some horrible disease. He could be contagious!"

Cassidy laughed and joined the game.

"He could be part of embarrassing club! Or some support group," she laughed. "Maybe he's a recovering alcoholic."

"Who's a recovering alcoholic?" Halinor asked, coming back from the kitchen and hanging her apron on the wall.

"Ash," Yan Lin giggled. "They trying to decide meaning of mark."

"I figured it meant something sad that he didn't want to talk about," Halinor added her own opinion in. "Maybe it's the mark of his dead dad."

"I didn't think of that," Nerissa said thoughtfully. "I think you might be right."

"No," Kadma said gloomily. "I fear it could be worse than that. What if he is working with Roarke instead of _against_ him?"

Yan Lin bit her lip to keep from bursting out. It took all she had in her not to speak.

"That's hogwash," Cassidy insisted. "Why would he put all his men in danger like that? Or why would his evil friend stab him if they were on the same _side_?"

Kadma remained silent, deep in her own thoughts.

"Even so," she insisted. "I do not believe we should trust him to take us to Roarke. Not if there is a possibility it could be a trap."

"Listen to you!" Halinor exclaimed. "Just yesterday you were all over him, now you want us to avoid him like the plague. Make up your _melon_!"

"Whoa, settle down, ladies!" the diner's owner called cheerily as he head over to them. Bill was a jolly, round fellow, who enjoyed his work immensely. He had grown fond of the girls over the past couple of days, getting to know them upon their many visits to see Halinor.

"Hello girls," he said. "I know what will turn those frowns upside down! Howzabout a milkshake for the lot of ya? On the house, of course."

Cassidy perked up with a smile.

"That would sure brighten _my_ day!"

"Coming right up," he promised, then headed through the swinging door to the kitchen.

"Alright," Nerissa said seriously, standing up to face all of them. "We can't spend the whole weekend in Meridian with Ash if we aren't in agreement. We'll take it to a vote: All in favor of continuing with said planned royal rescue mission, say 'aye'."

"Aye!" Cassidy, Halinor, and Yan Lin said, raising their hands. Nerissa stared at the motionless Kadma, who said nothing.

Kadma looked to the others and knew she was outnumbered. Sighing heavily, she unenthusiastically raised her hand as well.

"Aye," she mumbled gloomily.

-

"Ash," Sydrin sprinted to his leader as fast as he could, seemingly very out of breath from his run. "Sir, a portal has just opened and--"

"Good, the Guardians are coming," Ash interrupted.

"No, Ash," Sydrin insisted to his dearest friend, running his hand through his white hair anxiously. "They have opened the portal in the _Forbidden_ _Marshes_."

Ash's brown eyes grew wide.

"What should we do?" Sydrin asked. "Do we risk the men--?"

Ash replied by immediately grabbing his sharpest weapon.

"The Guardians are in very overwhelming danger and they don't even know it," Ash answered him calmly. "They must be saved. You and the rest can stay if you wish."

Sydrin grew serious, his bright green cat-like eyes narrowing and growing darker in color.

"Ash, you know we would follow you to death and beyond."

Ash strapped the leather bindings over his staff, hooking it to his back.

"Then take me there."

-

Yan Lin looked around once they stepped through the portal, confused at their strange surroundings. The air was so thick and so wet that she could barely breathe. It smelled horrendous, like sewage and thick smog. The place was dark and ominous, with many unidentified noises to frighten them all around. The trees overhead blocked all manner of light, which only allowed the fog to linger. The mud was deep underfoot, so deep she could barely move in it.

Nerissa came next, as did the others, and they too seemed confused.

"Gross!" Halinor cried, looking down at her once white dress, which was now an ugly shade of mud brown and moss green. "My dress!"

"I think we have worse things to worry about," Cassidy said. "Look!"

In the trees, a shadow moved about, a large silhouette of a dog-like animal. They could all hear it's low growl.

"Nerissa," Kadma hissed with worry. "I think we'd better go back."

"No," Nerissa said bravely. "We're Guardians, aren't we?"

"Well, only according to the book, really…" Halinor muttered.

"It's time we started _acting_ like Guardians," Nerissa said even louder, to contradict Halinor.

"Don't say it," Halinor commanded Nerissa.

Nerissa responded by pulling out the Heart.

"Please don't say it…" Halinor begged.

Nerissa grinned broadly at her and held the Heart up in her hands.

"God, I hate this part…" Halinor grumbled, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Guardians unite!" Nerissa shouted and once more, the beam of light burst from her, enveloping the girls in their bubbles once more. The beast watched in amazement from the shadows at the girls lifted into the air and burst from their cocoons looking almost completely different.

"Sound off again!" Nerissa commanded. "Heart!"

"Water!" Cassidy called.

"Fire," Halinor disdainfully called next.

"Earth!" Kadma shouted too.

"Air!" Yan Lin was the last to say.

"Good," Nerissa said, smoothing out the teal dress-like outfit over her blue and lime colored leggings. The odd Guardian outfit was already beginning to grow on her. "Now I feel much safer. Halinor, can you make a light so we can see?"

Halinor lifted her hand up in the air and the others watched in amazement as it brightly ignited, lighting everything around them.

Including the beast, which they could now see very plainly, it's fangs dripping hungrily as it gazed at them with its red demon eyes.

"I changed my mind—I don't want to see anymore," Cassidy screamed. "TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!"

-

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	11. Chapter 10: The Raiken

**Hey reviewers! You all reviewed so fast I thought I would reward you with a fast update. As long as you keep reviewing the posts will keep coming, since I have this story mostly already written. All I need is your prompting to continue, and I shall. **

**PS. New character concept is up on my homepage for Sydrin and Tred. Do have a look, and comment if you please.**

**Alright, _read on_:**

**-**

**Chapter 10:**

**-**

"TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF!"

Cassidy's scream was the last thing heard before Halinor obeyed her and turned off the light her fire made. Yan Lin didn't get a good look at the demon animals before Halinor's light went out, but what they saw was enough.

Suddenly they all picked up and ran, as the beast howled and more came from the trees. Their glowing red eyes were all that were seen and it was all the girls could manage not to trip and fall, lest they be devoured.

Panic overcame Yan Lin and she ran in fear, her feet flying so fast she could've sworn they began to lift off ground…

"What are you doing? Run!" Halinor shouted at Kadma next, but Kadma slowed to a jog for several moments, trying to get a better glimpse of what they were fleeing from.

Then, suddenly she muttered something and darted down through the trees with wild eyes, going so fast in her fear that she caught up and even passed the rest of them with her long legs.

"Run!" she announced. "Don't think, just go!"

That was enough to send them all off at an even quicker pace.

"What is it, Kadma!" Cassidy called to her as they ran in the ordered chaos. "What are they?"

Kadma shook her head and kept running. Soon more roars and growls were heard from behind them, as if the beasts were becoming more numerous.

"Don't look at them!" Kadma commanded. "They will only strike needless terror in your hearts. Keep running!"

The curiosity getting the best of her, Yan Lin ever so slightly peered over her shoulder as they ran, catching a single glance, but it was more than enough.

The beasts were horrific creatures that were large, thin, wolf-like beings, with saber-tooth fangs and huge claws on their hands that had to be the size of machetes. They had the composition of gorillas, with abnormally long arms and short legs, and ran on all fours with a speed that seemed unbecoming. Their eyes were as demon's, big and red in color, with slashes for pupils and slits for nostrils like a snake. Their matted fur was mostly brown in color, though a few of the smaller ones in their rushing crowd were black, and the biggest ones a pale white. They had the screaming roar of a dinosaur, or a large cat-beast.

Those monsters were the most horrific sight that Yan Lin had ever beheld. They were so ghastly to see that when her eyes met ones of theirs she gasped and gave out a shout in terror, and all the more increased his speed.

"_K'why yee t'yen erh_!" she cried out in her native tongue. Kadma grabbed her arm and urged her to keep running.

"I told you not to look!" Kadma said angrily. "Next time you will heed me!"

Halinor turned and ran backwards, firing flameballs at them blindly. There were so many, she figured she was bound to hit one, and she did, square in the nose. She could hear it yelp behind them, and then there were more haunting sounds as the creatures pounced and fought over the fresh meat.

Then together, the girls cried out suddenly, for they found themselves thrust knee deep into the treacherous mud marsh, stuck in a pit they had not foreseen. The creatures for a few moments were distracted by their feast, but they knew the wolf- beasts would inevitably pounce on them in the next moment, if they didn't hurry.

"Kadma!" Nerissa called out. "You have to get us out!"

Kadma's face grew determined at once, rubbing her hands together to concentrate on her purpose.

Hoping hard and stretching her hand out before her, she felt the earth in her head, the very soul of the ground below them. She was concentrating so hard she almost didn't see it coming.

Almost.

In a flash, the creature lunged. Kadma called out, fearing for her life, throwing her hands over her head to protect herself, feeling helpless to stop the imminent pain.

Then, the creature squealed as if wounded and crashed to the ground near to Kadma without her knowledge of how the beast had become injured. She found her answer in Halinor, who blew on the smoking tip of her finger like she would the barrel of a gun.

Yan Lin focused hard, and while the others were busy watching that exchange, she found herself floating above the marsh, a gust of air pushing her upward toward the dark sky.

"Yan!" Nerissa said, pointing to her so that the others would see. "My God, how you doing that?"

Yan Lin smiled, and in the midst of all this danger she felt suddenly very tranquil. She floated over to Nerissa to fly her out as well, just as the vines began to burst from the ground to pull the rest of them from their sticky pit.

But while Yan Lin was helping Nerissa, she didn't realize she had turned her back to the hoard of beasts, and was now dangling herself in front of them like catnip on a string. Nerissa saw them licking their jaws, preparing to pounce…

"Yan, look out!" But as those words left Nerissa's lips, a beast lunged at Yan Lin, tackling her to the ground and making her drop Nerissa back into the pit.

As Halinor took aim to fire at the beast attacking Yan Lin, she found she didn't have to, for an arrow soon found it's home in the creature's flesh, making it fall over dead instantly. It had come from that friend of Ash's named Sydrin, who ran straight to Nerissa to help her back out of the pit again, much with the aid of Kadma's branches.

Next thing Yan Lin knew, Ash was sweeping her up and throwing her over his shoulder like she was nothing more than a sack of potatoes and sprinting onward.

More arrows soon came from the trees, were more soldiers defended the Guardians against the wolf-beasts.

"This way!" Ash called to the other girls, as the canopy of the trees above began to lessen, and light began to shine through as if it were the saving grace at the end of a tunnel.

Yan Lin was grateful that Ash carried her on, for in her newfound injuries she knew she wouldn't have been able to on her own strength.

Soon the light was just ahead and once the soldiers reached it they would stop to catch their breath, as if they had lost their pursuers completely.

"What are you doing?" Halinor protested. "Why are we stopping to rest? Those things are still _in_ there!"

"And 'in there' is where they will remain," Ash promised her, stopping as well and gulping in oxygen greedily. "For that is their realm. They do not dare venture into the day unless they must. We are safe beyond the border of the trees and in the daylight."

Ash set Yan Lin down to sit on her own, as did Sydrin to Nerissa.

Nerissa then took a good look at Sydrin, as they took a moment or so to recuperate from the shock of it all.

Sydrin was a strange creature himself, with small pointed ears and ashen white hair. His eyes were what stuck out most, for they were very much like a cat's: large, drastically slanted and bright green in color, with small slits for pupils. He didn't seem to be out of breath at all, but rather calm and melancholy and waiting impatiently for approval to continue on their way. All other traits on him, though, appeared human.

Slinging his bow around his back, he peered at Nerissa seriously.

"Are you injured?" he asked her. Nerissa blushed that he was so close to her face.

"No, I think I'm okay," she replied, checking over her person to make sure. "How's everyone?"

Yan Lin groaned and tried to look at her back to see what was causing the pain back there. Ash was closely examining a large gash in her back caused by the beast's large claws.

"You are fortunate to be alive," Ash told Yan Lin. "The raiken are starving for meat such as yours. Not many who go in there, especially women, come out again. It is why that place is forbidden."

Nerissa looked back into the woods from which they had just come and could still make out the glow of the faint red eyes in the trees, and even thought she could still hear their angry growls. She made a note not to venture in _that_ hellish place again.

"What are they?" Halinor asked, though she looked as if she didn't really want to know the answer.

"They were once humans, like you, or so the legend says," Sydrin was the first to answer. "They say that the first of the raiken ventured into that swamp human by day, raiken by night, but were cursed by some fowl magic that dwells in those marshes that made it night forever. Once they were transformed, they could never return to their original state."

"I'll bet Roarke had something to do with that magic," Kadma guessed.

"You'd be right to assume so," Ash agreed. "Who knows what other of his creations are set loose in our world now. There have been rumors of such breeds that could venture in the broad daylight…" His voice trailed off, like he had suddenly thought it best not to scare them so soon.

"So those things are like werewolves," Nerissa presumed. "Do they spread by biting other humans?"

"No, young Guardian," Sydrin said patiently. "I know not what 'werewolves' are, but the raiken spread by breeding with females, as any other race does. But all raiken are male, you see. They only survive through crossbreeding with outside races. If you are male they will devour you, but if you are a human female, they will--"

"—THAT'S quite enough, Sydrin," Ash interrupted, noticing Halinor looking as if she were going to be sick. "We don't need to delve into unnecessary details. What matters is that we are out alive. Did you confer with your parents about staying out the weekend?"

"They think we're with the school on a ski trip," Halinor explained.

"Which is especially deceivin' considerin' I don't know how to ski," Cassidy said with a smile.

"So we're all yours for the weekend," Nerissa finished.

"Good," Ash said with an approving nod. "I hate to say this after you just got attacked, but I fear now is our only chance to rescue the queen, so if you are still up for going, we must be off now."

"I don't know about you, but after that little skirmish in there, I'm ready for home," Halinor commented.

"Sissy," Cassidy teased.

"All or nothing, girls," Nerissa reminded them. "We voted for this."

She turned to Ash and said decidedly:

"We're in."

**-**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	12. Chapter 11: The Pendant of a Queen

**On my character concept page, I've revealed some background and personality information on each of the characters, and I'll be posting how the guardians look in normal attire soon (well, normal forties attire). Do go have a look.**

**_Read on_:**

**-**

**Chapter 11:**

**-**

The troop walked for what seemed like an endless journey. The Crux, as Ash explained, was a distance away from Marshes, and the castle was another half-day's travel after that, since they traveled by foot. Night had already fallen by the time they had reached the Crux, so they stopped to rest and tend to their wounds there. It was there they met up with Tred, who directed Yan Lin and Nerissa to the hospital tent, while the others got their own personal tents for sleeping.

But through her pains, Yan Lin found she could not rest. There wasn't any comfortable position to lie on, and her shuffling was disturbing Nerissa's sleep. After a few hours of this, she sighed and went outside for air. She spotted Sydrin standing just outside the tent, keeping watch over them like an alert dog. He watched her intently as she passed him, but said nothing.

Then Yan Lin spied Ash over buy the gate of the Crux, sitting by a dying fire pit and watching the embers fade. She decided it was her perfect chance to talk to him about the mark.

Though as she walked over to confront him, she found herself growing more nervous with every step. Every lift of her feet took a large amount of courage to achieve. She wasn't supposed to know what she knew, and she wondered what Ash would say of her knowledge.

As she neared him she could see plainly that he was distressed, which only served to increase her nervousness. He didn't look up to watch her arrive, nor gave any inclination he knew she was there, but somehow Yan Lin knew very well that he was aware of her presence.

Yan Lin stopped before him. Her heart now beat wildly like she was in danger. She reassured herself that Ash was a rational man, and would not hurt her over words. But she was still afraid of his evident angst. She knew he must be worrying for his queen, his brother, and his coming mission with inexperienced Guardians.

"Something troubles you," he observed quietly, his eyes glued to the fire. It wasn't a question, just a statement; one that Yan Lin didn't feel the need to answer.

"Well, sit down," he commanded, still not looking at her.

Yan Lin obeyed his invitation and sat down next to him gently on the large log.

"You sleep?"

"Not lately," he replied with a flustered sigh.

"Too much make you upset?"

"Far too much."

Yan Lin bit her lip, and felt it best to avoid the subject of the symbol for now.

"Can I ask, when you father die?" she asked instead.

"Three hundred and sixty-two days ago," he replied promptly. "The one-year anniversary of his death is coming and I feel no less grief than the day he died."

"You miss him," Yan Lin said with understanding.

"I wish he were here to help me," he lamented, leaning forward toward the small fire. "My heart is so heavy in his absence."

Yan Lin spotted something glisten around his neck, a glint of something shiny. It was a small pendant of silver, fastened to a brown piece of string. The pendant was a simple silver star with six points, with a white jewel imbedded in the center. The silver was dull and tarnished from a long time of wear, but the gemmed center sparkled in the starlight like it belonged among them.

"Is beautiful…" Yan Lin commented, reaching to point to the necklace. Ash frowned like she had seen something she wasn't supposed to and buried the necklace underneath his shirt.

"Thank you," he replied mechanically.

"Is it… queen's?" she asked.

He looked at her very seriously.

"I gave it to her… many years ago," he explained with a cold, even tone, like it pained him to speak of it. "She's _never_ taken it off since."

Yan Lin twiddled her thumbs and gathered her courage once more in the few moments of awkward silence.

"Back home," Yan Lin said. "Old woman in shop sold books. She always say to everyone: 'this perfect book for you' and she never wrong. Like magic. She gave me book on Meridian."

At this, Ash looked at her out of the corner of his eye, probably suspecting what was coming.

"In book it say meaning of mark."

Ash sighed heavily in defeat, his suspicions having been confirmed.

"Have you told the others?" he asked frustratedly.

Yan Lin shook her head no.

"I want talk to you first. I think it was most fair."

"What's there to say?"

"The girls think bad of you. They think you traitor. Kadma will not stop asking me of meaning."

"Yan," Ash said, taking her hand in his, his eyes suddenly becoming sad and earnest. "I beg of you, keep your silence."

Yan Lin was surprised, looking down at their hands, his encompassing hers like a cocoon.

"Why?" she asked. "I do not understand."

"Just promise me you will," Ash pleaded, looking her straight in the eye. "_Please_."

Yan Lin was confused at his begging, why he was so upset by her knowing. Even still, she nodded.

"I swear it."

Ash let go of her hand and instead placed his head in his palms. Relief swelled over him, sensing she was telling the truth.

"I give you my sincerest thanks," he said with a nod. "And I assure you, if it brings you any comfort, that all will reveal itself soon enough."

He sighed and lifted his eyes to the night sky.

"Much too soon," he breathed sorrowfully.

-

"My dear," Roarke said with a sweet smile, coming into the cell with the queen. "How are we today?"

Wilona was huddled into a corner, the light that always glowed from her skin having fallen weak and dim. She had been crying, the tear stains evident on her soft dewy cheeks, even in the darkness of the musty cell corner. Her coronation dress was muddy from the wet, dirty floor, and not very magnificent at all anymore.

At the sound of Roarke's voice, she lifted her heavy head to look him in the eyes. Such sadness was in her violet orbs, a sadness that no doubt had shadowed the radiance in her once shining skin.

"My dear, don't look so gloomy," he said, handing her a white cloth to wipe her eyes with.

"Sir," his dark haired apprentice called from outside the cage. "I bring back word for you… word of the leader of the armies. He's on his way here."

Wilona's heart sank deeper than she ever thought possible, and Roarke's victorious smile could only serve to distress her all the more.

"See there?" he said cheerily. "Seems everything's working out our way. Ash is on his way to join the party—with the Guardians no doubt, and he probably thinks they'll do him some good. We'll make them see different, won't we, dear? Now we don't have to track down Ash to kill him… he's on his way to his own death right now…"

-

"Kadma, can you hand me that pillow over there?" Halinor asked as she made the cot up on which she had slept. Kadma seemed to not hear her, for she was busy watching Ash very closely out the window of the large tent.

"Kadma?" Halinor asked in wonder. "Anyone home?"

Kadma turned to the pillow on the floor and tossed it to Halinor with contempt.

"Whoa!" Halinor said as she caught it in midair. "_Someone_ woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"How much do we know of Ash?" Kadma asked her. "Can we trust him to tell us all he knows of what we are getting ourselves into?"

"Why not?" Halinor said as she smoothed out the wrinkles on the blanket. "He's been right so far."

Kadma went back to looking out the window, not realizing that Halinor had snuck up to join her.

"Scared, perhaps?" she accused, making Kadma jump in surprise.

"I told you before," she said harshly. "I simply don't find it comforting to go invade the dark castle when Ash might be leading us straight into a trap."

"I thought _I_ was the worrywart," Halinor laughed. "To answer your question, I trust him fine. It's _you_ I'm having trouble with."

Kadma looked at Halinor with offense, her mouth open to say something, then she shut it again as Nerissa came back to the tent.

"Hey ladies, it's time to get going," she informed them.

"If you hate me so much," Kadma accused, ignoring Nerissa and getting in Halinor's face. "Why did you help me back in the Marshes?"

"Why help a bum on the street with a few bucks?" Halinor retorted. "It's sympathy for those less fortunate than I."

Kadma glared at her with disgust.

"You're comparing _me_ with a bum on the _street_?"

"Why not?" she said snottily. "There's enough in common between you both."

"Look who's talking?" Kadma countered. "I'll bet that your daddy makes less in a year than a beggar on the corner market."

"Why you--" Halinor said, lunging for Kadma angrily.

"Whoa!" Nerissa said, grabbing Halinor before she could do anything to Kadma. "Did I come at a bad time or _what_? You ladies need to cool your jets!"

"Her first," Kadma insisted, crossing her arms. "She gives a new meaning to 'hothead'."

"You shut your mouth, Miss 'Poison Oak'!"

"Com'on, stop this!" Nerissa commanded. "Both of you! We're supposed to be a team here. We're in _uniform_, for crying out loud! Your constant bickering isn't helping anything."

"We'll work together," Kadma agreed hastily. "Doesn't mean we have to like it."

"I couldn't have said it better myself…" Halinor said.

"No," Kadma countered. "You _couldn't_ have."

With that, she stormed out, leaving behind an even angrier Halinor and an even more flustered Nerissa.

-

As they set out, everyone more or less felt a little uncomfortable, with one another, and with the anxiety of what was before them. The thought of being captured or killed seemed more than their nerves could bear. Halinor especially, complained of wanting to go home now, but she was readily ignored. She didn't want to admit it, but Kadma now had her worried.

"It's time to go save another person's life, Halinor," Nerissa encouraged her as they trailed behind the rest of them. "We were chosen for this, and only we can do it. Doesn't that make you feel important? I know it makes _me_ feel important."

Halinor walked in silence next to Nerissa, considering her words for several moments.

"Yes, it does for me too," she agreed. "I just can't say I've risked my life before."

Nerissa laughed.

"You may not realize it, Halinor, but you already have risked it twice! Once at the mutiny at the Crux, and once at the Forbidden Marshes. You're a regular daredevil!"

Halinor smiled, and actually felt better.

"Time to whoop some tail?" Halinor asked hopefully.

"Time to whoop some tail," Nerissa agreed with a broad smile.

"Tred, go back," Ash commanded once he spotted his brother sneaking in amongst his men.

"I'm in the military too, Ash!" he argued.

"I'm not going to say it again," Ash warned over his shoulder as he walked beside Sydrin.

"You're going to have to, because I'm not listening," Tred said stubbornly.

Ashlee stopped walking. Sydrin did as well.

"Shall I?" Sydrin asked his closest friend.

"Do it," Ash commanded, then continued his walk. Sydrin turned and pulled out his largest arrow, and pointed it at Tred.

"Syd, don't you dare," Tred said, shaking his head. The guardians stared with gaping mouths, not believing that Ash had truly given his friend permission to shoot his own brother.

"Hold still," Sydrin commanded, then lowered his aim and let the arrow fly. It found its home in the ground beside Tred's foot, but not without pinning his pant leg down with it.

Sydrin simply turned continued on as Tred struggled to pry the thick stake of an arrow from the earth with no success, yelling furiously to their backs.

"You're just going to _leave_ him there?" Cassidy asked Ash.

"Of course not," Ash said, smiling at his cat-eyed friend as if they shared a common joke. "Sydrin will be back for that arrow."

"Most certainly," Sydrin agreed. "It's one of my good arrows."

"Didn't you make that out of Thrind wood?" Ash asked him as if they were two simple boys making lighthearted conversation over tea, and it only served to thoroughly confound the girls.

"Oh, no, out of Forleb wood, actually," Sydrin replied. "I always did say Forleb was the best…"

"You do say that, don't you? It's the strongest at the very least, I'll give it that."

"That's a given, most definitely."

The guardians looked to one another, exchanging surprised looks and seeing them reflected right back, but nevertheless walked on in silence.

"ASH!" Tred called from behind him. "You can't keep me out of combat forever! I'll show you someday! Mark my words—you'll see! I'll be better than _you_ someday! YOU'LL SEE!"

Halinor looked back to Tred, who was still struggling with the stake, and couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the lad. She would have given anything to exchange places with him right about now, as the looming dark castle on the hill began to appear over the horizon.

She had a very bad feeling about this.

**-**

Things will start to get exciting now, like Ash says: "All will be revealed soon enough." For now, please review.

Signed,  
--RedRogue


	13. Chapter 12: The Rescue Quest

**This chapter is dedicated to IzzyBree, who touched my heart by confessing she goes on FF everyday to see if I have updated this story. So here's to Izzy-- I updated this chapter quickly just to 'make your day'.**

**_Read on_:**

**-**

**Chapter 12:**

**-**

"You all know what to do?" Ash whispered outside of the wall of the castle of Metamoor. The Guardians, though now speechless with nervousness, nodded in reply. Ash didn't seem convinced.

"I got it," Nerissa assured him. "Everyone got it?"

"Got it," Kadma, Yan Lin, and Cassidy said in unison.

"I don't get it," Halinor piped up, raising her hand like a student would to a teacher. The other girls sighed in frustration together and scowled at Halinor.

"All right, we'll go over it one more time," Ash caved.

"Just go over _our_ parts one more time," Nerissa commanded him impatiently.

"Alright," Ash agreed with a sigh. "Kadma, Yan Lin, Cassidy and myself are going into the main hall, where there are sure to be the most guards and their attention will be focused on us. Nerissa, you're going with Halinor to the dungeons to get the queen, once you have her, make a portal and lead them out. Sydrin, you're going to lead them, since you know where the dungeons are. Once you get there, get as many prisoners out as you can, but make the queen first priority. Split up if you can."

Sydrin nodded determinedly and went back to sharpening his arrows.

"You said we could split up?" Halinor protested in a low voice. "I'm going to be fighting in there alone?"

"Your never-ending fear grows tiresome, Halinor," Kadma complained.

"She's right," Cassidy laughed. "You're more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockin' chairs."

"But why me?"

"You are the guardian of fire," Ash reassured Halinor. "And thus more capable of fighting independently. But rest assured: if all goes well all the guards will be fighting _us_ instead of you. Now let's go, we don't have any more time to waste."

Yan Lin easily flew up, but waited in the air until they followed before crossing over the wall.

Sydrin shot a grappling with his bow up the side of the barricade, tugged it to make sure it was secure, and started to climb like he was made to do so.

"Wow," Nerissa commented with approval. "He's a regular _monkey_."

"You'll find Sydrin has many talents," Ash said, as he grabbed the rope to make it easier for the girls to climb on. "And rightly so, for the magic in him. He's cousin to her Highness Wilona, you know."

"Wow," Cassidy said from above them. "I can see the Crux from here!"

"Keep going, Cass," Kadma commanded, prompting her on so that they both could continue their ascent.

One by one they scaled the huge wall, until finally Ash hopped down onto the stone ground on the other side as the last of them. Sydrin pried his arrow from the stone ground on which it had staked into, and put it back into his large quiver.

"Here's where we part ways," Ash told Nerissa. "Sydrin will lead you from here."

"Come," Sydrin commanded, taking off and not bothering to wait for them. Nerissa and Halinor took one more look at their friends, and followed him.

"Come with me," Ash said, leading the rest in the opposite direction.

"Ash," Yan Lin finally spoke up. "English is… not so good. You say we going and pick fight with _all _guards in castle?"

"As many as will fight with us."

"Are they _big_ guards?" Yan Lin asked with worry.

"You're beginning to sound like Halinor," Kadma commented as they ran and hid behind a large pillar of marble.

"Yes, they are quite large considering they are monsters of men," Ash replied honestly. "And we might find a few raiken amongst them as well, so prepare yourself."

Yan Lin gripped the end of Ash's jacket, her knuckles white in fear.

"You take us to die?"

"You are guardians," Ash told them, looking at Cassidy, Kadma, and Yan Lin each in the eyes. "Your powers are meant for this. Be brave. I'll make sure no harm befalls you."

This steadied the girl's minds, and together they marched up the stairs to the large gates of the darkened castle.

"You ready?" he asked them. They nodded, and took fighting positions.

With that, Ash courageously put a palm on each of the double doors and pushed both open wide.

The guards were alarmed, to say the least, and charged at once. Ash took the velocity of one of his attackers and threw him down the stairs behind him, barely leaving enough time for the girls to step aside to let the flying man through.

"Let's go!" Cassidy yelled, and kept yelling all the way inside. The other girls raised their fists in the air, mimicking her fervor, and followed suit.

Yan Lin blew aside anyone in their path, as Cassidy and Kadma nodded to one another and put their hands to the floor, concentrating hard.

The ground began to rumble underneath their feet, as tiny plants began to sprout from the stone cracks.

"Yeah, like that's going to help," Cassidy commented through her own concentration.

"I'm not finished yet, you just do your job," Kadma ordered.

"All over it," Cassidy promised, putting her other hand to the ground as well. Suddenly large eruptions of water began to spurt out from the quaking ground like busted fire hydrants.

"It's too bad this place doesn't have indoor plumbing," Cassidy yelled to Kadma. "I guess their wells will have to do!"

"I don't need a source for my powers to work," Kadma retorted, then jerked her hands to the sky, making vines and trees spring from the ground and do the same, taking many guards with them. "Earth is everywhere!"

"So is wind, friend!" Yan Lin chimed in, calling in a gust from outside and using it to throw monsters into the air and hit the ground hard.

Bravery came surprisingly easy to them once in the midst of the battle; all manner of previous fright melted away. Their powers were coming naturally and their reflexes swift.

Soon all the guards in the room had been taken care of.

"Good!" Ash called, one he saw they were done here. "That gets rid of the door guards. Now for the hard part."

"Hard part?" Yan Lin repeated with fear, looking at the dozens of guards on the ground. "Wait, Ash… I not liking sound of that…"

-

"Use your legs!" Sydrin called to them. "I said, make _haste_!"

"I hate to break it to you, Boy Scout," Halinor called back from behind. "But this is as fast as I go."

"Quiet now," Sydrin instructed them, putting his back to a wall just near a barred gate. He peeked his head around the corner to gaze through the openings between the bars. He sighed with disappointment.

"What's wrong?" Nerissa asked him silently.

"We cannot enter this way," Sydrin informed them. "It seems this is where they keep the raiken now. There are too many of them to try and cross."

"What do you suggest we do?" Nerissa wondered.

"We'll have to use another entrance," Sydrin thought for a moment. "There is only the main entrance besides this one. We'll have to go inside the castle. It will take longer and quite a bit of sneaking, though…"

He shook it off.

"Come, we cannot waste time."

"Oh good," Halinor droned with deep sarcasm. "More _running_."

Sydrin waved them on as he stepped light-footedly around another corner, up a short spiral staircase, and through a variety of castle corridors. Nerissa was glad he was here to show them the way, because she was already lost back at corridor number two. She was thankful for Sydrin, and couldn't help but notice that he seemed to live up to those cat eyes with an equal amount of feline grace. Nerissa wondered if he fell from a high distance if he would land on his feet.

She chuckled at the thought, and Sydrin turned to her with wild, angry eyes.

"Silence!" he snapped as they stopped just short of another intersection. "Do you wish to kill us _all_?"

He pointed around the stone corner, to allow her to have a look for herself at what he was speaking of.

Around that corner was a large post outside of the dungeon doors, where an entire unit of guards stood around to defend the precious prison entrance to where the queen laid beyond. Nerissa slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound of her deep gasp. There were so many of them she wondered if they should call it off.

"We have to go through _that_?" she whispered in fear to Sydrin. He pulled an arrow from his quiver and looked at her harshly again.

"I said _silence_!" he hissed back. "Have courage! After I fire the first shot, Halinor, I want you to shoot as hot and as broad a burst of flame as you can manage. After that, we clear a path for you to get in."

"It's time to show them what we're made of," Nerissa said bravely, cocking her fists.

"Can we leave that part _out_?" Halinor protested. "I'd like to keep my blood and organs _hidden_, if at all possible."

Nerissa rolled her eyes and watched at Sydrin raised his bow around the corner, aiming for one barely in his sights.

Even still, when he released the arrow, it hit the helmeted guard right in the neck, making him call out in pain and the other guards to grab their weapons.

Sydrin and Nerissa stepped aside as Halinor jumped out from behind the corner and shot an explosion of flame out from her hands. Sydrin covered her with more shots, then pulled out a sword and rushed them, and Nerissa yelled a battle cry and followed.

Halinor torched her way through the mass of monstrous blue, scaly guards, her heart beating wildly in fear. But, she realized, the more she shot the fire from within her, the easier it became. By the time she had reached the prison door, she actually began to enjoy it and it's effortlessness.

She was _good_ at this.

Bravery came over her like a wave and a smile suddenly appeared on her face at her victory over her fear. She burned through the lock in the door and powered on through, leaving Nerissa and Sydrin to carry on the dirty work as she slipped through the battle's grasp to locate the queen. She rushed down the halls as fast as she could, looking in each barred door carefully but seeing no woman that fit the description of the white-haired queen. Soon she heard Nerissa behind her, calling out for the queen as well. She breathed out in relief as she ran. That meant that they had come out of the battle safely too.

Then she came to another door, which was locked like the first. This must be the special prisoner section where they were sure to be keeping the queen. She welded through the lock rapidly and kicked open the door.

"Hello, your highness," Halinor said, spotting the most beautiful woman she had ever laid eyes on, her white hair glistening in the little light the cell had. She was just like Ash's description, only more so. Her magic had obviously been good to her.

Though before the queen had been a sad sight: pale, wet and miserable, at the sound of Halinor's voice her face light up like a light bulb.

"You are one of the guardians?" she asked hopefully as Halinor got to work on the bars. The queen's voice was smooth as silk and calming to the ear.

"That's me," she replied gladly. "And I already know I'm just a little girl."

"The thought never crossed my mind," she promised, as if surprised by the girl's snippy tone. "Is Ashlee with you?"

"He's off fighting with the other guardians so we can make a clean getaway."

That's when Halinor felt something cold under her chin, hard, like metal. She saw quickly that it was a sword, held by a young, dark haired man who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Things just got _messy_, I'm afraid," he said in a low, but very triumphant voice.

**-**

Please review.

Signed,  
--RedRogue


	14. Chapter 13: The Meaning Revealed

**-**

**Chapter 13:**

-

Ash swung his sword, taking down yet another guard. It seemed for every monster they took down, three more came in its place. Though, he knew their luck could only hold for so long, for the guards were quickly outnumbering them.

He, for one, was quite impressed with the girl's sudden fervor in fighting, for they worked together as a group splendidly in the absence of their heart-holder. Guards would be blasted with bursts of water in their face, freeze dried with a cool wind, and bound with vines like their own assembly line.

Then, suddenly, a swarm of guards came from the broad stairway to the throne room, flooding into the court like they were water themselves. All were armed with bows and swords, and surrounded Ash and the Guardians indefinitely.

"We can blast our way to the exit easily," Kadma informed them, as they were herded together with their backs to one another.

"Girls," Ash said to them over his shoulder. "This is not over yet."

-

"Sydrin!" Nerissa called through the jails halls, but there came no answer. She realized she had taken a wrong turn somewhere in her search for the queen, and had now wound up in someplace with even dimmer lighting than before. The Heart around her neck began to glow brightly as any torch, so she held that out in front of her as she tried to find her way back. Even with the small light, it only illuminated not more than five feet in front of her, she started to become afraid, especially after she heard a shuffling noise.

"Sydrin?" she called out again, whirling around with her light. She was only hoping it was him. "Halinor?"

The only answer that came through the dark was a low growl. She recognized that growl.

"_Anyone_?" Nerissa said desperately, as those red eyes shined through the dark to see her. More of them came from all around, and Nerissa began to panic in paralyzing fear as one drew closer.

Suddenly, one of the beasts let out a squeal in pain, and the next a roar of charge, but not on her. They were attacking something or someone else. More scuffles arose, as did the distant '_twang_' of a bow, and that's when she realized who it was.

Then, she felt a firm hand grasp her own, leading her hurriedly through the dark to safety. Soon light was in view, and she found herself back in the dungeon halls. She breathed a sigh of relief as Sydrin let go of her hand.

"Silly girl!" he scolded. "You _saw_ the raiken pens on the way inside! You are _wanting_ to be killed?"

"I'm sorry!" Nerissa defended. "I got lost."

She felt so stupid then, for her lame attempts at an excuse, and she felt even worse when she saw that Sydrin was grasping his tricep in pain. Blood began to pour through his fingers. The wound was deep, most likely from those machete-like claws on the raiken.

"Oh, you're hurt!" Nerissa exclaimed with pity.

"Yes, I knew this," Sydrin retorted, then straightened up quickly like he bore no pain at all. "Now, come, we must see if Halinor has located the queen."

Nerissa's brow shot up in surprise. Surely he did not plan on going on with a wound like that?

"But--!" she began, but her voice failed her.

"But what?" Sydrin asked in genuine confusion, looking back to her. Obviously the soldiers in Ash's army did not bear much to tending to pains while they were still in battle—then again, maybe it was just him. Either way, it was a sign of a good soldier.

"Thank you," Nerissa said instead. Sydrin nodded an understanding 'you're welcome', then they continued on their way.

-

The queen stayed quiet and watched as Halinor looked over her assailant, who at the moment was holding a sword to her neck. The man was really only a boy, with black hair and silver eyes. His face had sharp features; with hallow cheeks and square-ish jaw, though he stood tall and lean like a boy who exercised more than he ate. He would've been a handsome lad, if it weren't for his foul, prideful expression. He held the sword as if he had years of practice doing so.

"Who are _you_ supposed to be?" Halinor said, now only with an attitude in the place of fear. She flicked his sword away carelessly. "A bad guy, I presume, judging by the spooky outfit. That cape is the cat's pajamas, by the way."

"I am most relieved that you approve of my attire," he scoffed in a low, but very smooth voice. He seemed to enjoy his work a little too much. "Now if you would please, come with me. My master is very anxious to meet you."

Halinor put her hands up in surrender, a large grin glued to her pretty face.

"What is so humorous?" he asked with impatience.

"You," she replied with a giggle. "You forgot to ask which guardian I _was_."

Suddenly her hands exploded into flame, a stream of fire blazing out of each of her fingertips. The boy barely had enough time to protect himself, he was so surprised, and that was just enough time for her to slip out with the queen.

Right out to a barricade of monstrous guards.

-

Suddenly Sydrin stopped in their return run and grabbed Nerissa by the wrist, yanking her back to where he stood. Nerissa was utterly surprised by this, and once again found herself blushing at their closeness. She scolded herself, for she knew he didn't think their distance was in any way cause for a second thought, like she did.

"What's the matter?" Nerissa whispered, but Sydrin promptly shushed her, holding her close to him behind the pillar, her back to his chest.

Then Nerissa saw a guard come around the corner, and he heart pumped in stunned fear. A young boy in a cloak came next, carrying an unconscious Halinor, and Nerissa gasped. At her outburst, Sydrin immediately covered her mouth with his hand, as the boy carrying Halinor stopped abruptly, looking around in suspicion.

"My lord?" a guard said in confusion.

"Never-mind," the boy commanded, his distrusting eyes still searching the hall. "Let's go."

The queen, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen.

-

As Ash lifted his sword to strike once more, a booming voice from the top of the throne room stairs stopped his blow.

"Halt!"

All the guards in the room stopped, and even the guardians froze in their tracks, and looked up to see where the voice was coming from.

"Well!" Favian Roarke said at the top of the wide, majestic staircase. "If it isn't the man of the hour… Ashlee. Just the person I was waiting to see."

Ash didn't lower his sword, but now seemed very alarmed.

"Where are the rest of your Guardian friends?" Roarke asked him with such an eerie calm. "Ah, no worries. I'm sure they'll be here soon enough. Wilona, darling, look who's come to see you!"

A burly guard came forth to show the queen, who seemed to know by now that fighting him was futile. She seemed very disturbed, though, to see Ash standing down below her.

"Ashlee!" she called in worry. Ash said nothing, though his distress seemed to be heightening. Yan Lin put her hands to her mouth, biting her nails in apprehension. Kadma seemed ready to attack Roarke at any excuse, and Cassidy seemed like she would indubitably follow.

"Now that you are here," Roarke said, his creepy cheer finally falling into a cold evil tone. "You may die."

The guards moved in, overcoming Ash with their sudden numbers and forcing him to his knees. At this, Kadma sent a rush of vines and stone at Roarke, calling out with anger and exertion. Roarke laughed and with a wave of his hand, blocked it with some sort of invisible barrier. It was useless.

The guard to perform the execution stepped forward, opening a vile and pouring its dark contents over his blade. It was surely poison, to make sure the task was completed one way or another.

Ash only looked to Wilona with sorrow and longing, with so strong a love and sadness in his eyes that Kadma had too look away.

The guard lifted his sword above Ash's neck, as Ash closed his eyes and prepared for the blow.

"WAIT!" the queen begged, falling on her face before Roarke in earnest. "Favian, please… Hear me—I _will_ marry you! I beseech you, spare Ashlee's life."

"You sure change your tune when the reality is in front of your eyes," Roarke replied. The guard with the sword above Ash hesitated and looked to Roarke, awaiting his orders. Roarke nodded to him, and the guard backed away, though the other guards still kept a firm grasp on Ash's arms. Roarke leaned down to the queen, and lifted her to her feet like he would a dear child.

"You have chosen wisely, my queen…" he assured her smoothly, then began to lean in for a kiss.

At this, Ash had about had enough, trying to shake off the guards in anger, yelling to Roarke insistently.

"Her people will not follow a leader of monsters! Let her go!"

"Oh, but they will," Roarke vowed.

"My men will always defy you!" Ash tried again. "They are loyal no matter what!"

"You think your pathetic little army frightens me?"

Then Roarke began to lean again for the queen's mouth. Wilona winced with disgust.

"Wait!" Ash called. "You cannot marry her!"

Roarke pulled away again in frustration.

"And why not?" he spat out. "Because you are in _love_ with her?"

Ashlee and Wilona looked to one another, having an entire conversation with their eyes, which ended with Wilona shaking her head furiously no.

"Don't, Ash," she pleaded. "Knowledge is our only power."

"You are right," he replied. "It is, at this point."

"Ash," Wilona insisted. "No…"

He looked to Roarke next, as Wilona ineffectually begged of him for something that was beyond Kadma and Cassidy's understanding, though Yan Lin was beside herself with stress of what she knew what coming.

"You cannot marry her, Roarke," Ash said with a loud, courageous, and the guards let him step forward. "Because of_ this_."

Ashlee bared his breast to show Roarke the rectangular mark on his left peck, just over his heart.

Roarke's eyes grew wide in shock.

"The mark of union… When…?" Roarke said in confusion. Something about the sight of that mark greatly upset him.

"Just before the death of her mother and Wilona's coronation," Ash explained. "So you cannot be married to her… because _I_ already am."

Kadma gasped, but Cassidy was still confused.

"The mark of union?" she said. "_That's_ what his mark meant? But why…?"

"The mark of union is magic bond for marriage," Yan Lin explained in a low voice. "They bound together… if Roarke tries to marry her, she will die… and he need her alive."

"Wait," Kadma said with surprise. "You _knew_ about this?"

Yan Lin bit her lip and didn't answer.

Roarke stepped toward Wilona to check if she had the mark as well, but Ash put up his hand to stop him and said:

"_Don't_ even think about it… Trust me, its there."

Roarke looked down to Ash with a harsh expression, then suddenly… he burst out into laughter, much to the bewilderment of all.

"Oh, my," Roarke chuckled, drying his eyes with the side of his long sleeve. "This is simply too much."

"I don't understand," Ash pressed.

"You have undone yourself more than I ever could have. Once the people have heard that their precious leader and good queen have betrayed them all…" He began to laugh again. "Now I don't have to kill you. The people will do it themselves. And after you are dead… then I _will_ marry Wilona… and Meridian will be mine for the taking."

**-**

**So now I have finally revealed the meaning of the Ash's mark. Intense, eh? Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	15. Chapter 14: The Escape

**New character concepts for Yan Lin (normal clothing) and Steve West. The mysterious 'ward' has a concept that should be up very soon as well. Keep an eye on it, and comment, if you like.  
_Read on:_**

**-**

**Chapter 14:**

-

Roarke stepped up to Ash slowly, as the guards maintained a firm grip on him. Ash was scowling with utmost hatred toward the older man.

Roarke lifted his hand to Ash's neck and held the pendant of the queen in his hand.

"I should have known this was a gift from you," Roarke growled disdainfully, then snapped the necklace off him, much to Ash's dismay.

"This is mine now," Roarke told him like it was a vow, then turned to the guards. "Put him in a torture wing. Make sure it's in the furthermost one—so I won't have to hear his screams."

"NO!" Wilona shouted with tears springing to her eyes, but several guards held her back.

"No," Roarke said. "Let her go to him. It may be the last she ever _sees_ of the lad. Go say your good-byes, my dear."

So the guard let go of Wilona, and she rushed down the stairs to her husband, her dress flowing around her like a wisp of cloud.

She threw her arms around Ashlee and immediately wept. At this, Ash pulled her away from himself and looked her in the eye, putting his forehead to hers.

"Oh, please do not make my last memory of you one of weeping, my love," he said in a soft voice the others had never heard on him before. Perhaps he was near tears himself, but if he was, it was hard to tell. "We _knew_ this day would come! Have peace in knowing that you have given this man _paradise_ while it has lasted."

When their lips met in a kiss, Roarke put his hands up, motioning for the guards to take him away. They kept their hands together as long as they could, before the distance parted them.

"We have to _do_ something!" Kadma protested, going out of her mind at the sight, and the immense pain she saw on Ash's face as they took him away.

"Ya'll got any ideas feel _free_ to throw them out there!" Cassidy replied. Kadma looked to Yan Lin, who shrugged in reply.

"Go home, little guardians!" Roarke said from the top of the stairway like he was speaking to mischievous children. "Go home to your mommies and daddies."

"That's just what we plan to do!" Nerissa shouted. Suddenly she appeared with Sydrin, running out from a nearby hall. Sydrin's bow was working hard to keep up with his quick reloading.

"Nerissa, make a portal!" he commanded, then turned to Kadma. "Where is Ash?"

"They took him away…" Kadma struggled to explain. "Where's _Halinor_?"

Sydrin frowned at her and didn't answer.

-

"Sir," the young ward whispered into his master's ear as Roarke made it back into the throne room. "We have obtained the _fire_ _guardian_."

"Good!" Roarke said with a pleased expression. "Make sure she feels… welcome."

The dark-haired apprentice nodded, bowed his respects, and stalked off.

-

"Protect the queen!" Sydrin ordered. "Get her out!"

Nerissa had finally managed to make a portal then, and as Cassidy and Yan Lin covered her, she herded the queen to it.

"You are leaving Ash behind?" she asked with mourning. Nerissa looked at her with sympathy.

"Please, your highness," she coaxed. "We have no other choice."

The queen nodded, then stepped through.

"What about Halinor?" Cassidy asked Nerissa. "We can't just leave her here—what about her parents? What are we going to tell them?"

"We're getting overwhelmed here, Nerissa," Kadma called, still fighting next to Sydrin. "Make a decision and make it fast."

-

More reinforcements came from the throne room behind where Roarke and his apprentice were standing, but they stopped running when Roarke held up his hand.

"There is enough down there already," Roarke said firmly.

"Sir?" one guard growled with confusion. "You are letting them go? With the queen?"

"They _have_ nowhere to go," Roarke explained. "We have their leader and one of the guardians now. They will be back."

-

Nerissa frowned in deep, agonizing thought of the decision before her, then stood up tall and courageously.

"We have to retreat—Now!" she ordered. The other guardians looked at her like she had spoken blasphemy.

"WHAT?" Cassidy yelled in utter disbelief.

"But--" Yan Lin began, but Nerissa interrupted her.

"We have to be able to come back for her--" she said, spotting Sydrin wincing through the pain in his still freely bleeding arm. It affected his shooting immensely.

"Perhaps with backup and a little time to heal. We'll think of _something_ to tell her parents."

"They wouldn't dare kill her," Sydrin promised, fighting his way over to the portal. "GO!"

Cassidy was the first to jump back out, followed by Yan Lin. Kadma was hesitant, but the look on Nerissa's bold and demanding face made her give in and exit as well. Sydrin jumped through as well, and at last, so did Nerissa, just as the portal closed behind her.

-

Yan Lin sighed, her old bones complaining that she was staying up entirely too late.

"Oh, Hay Lin," she moaned. "That is enough for tonight. We both need to sleep."

"Nooo!" Hay Lin pressed. "What will happen to Ash and Halinor? What are the people going to say when they find out about the Queen's forbidden marriage? Oh, Grandma Lin, you _can't_ stop there!"

"I am old, Hay Lin," Yan Lin said with a comforting smile. "My rear end is angry with this barstool, so I had best separate them. I will tell you more tomorrow, I promise."

Hay Lin pouted in disappointment, but obeyed her grandmother's wishes anyhow. She looked upon her grandma in a new light, as the old, hunched over woman made her way to bed, leaning on her wooden cane for extra support. Had this woman truly flown as a guardian once? It seemed so hard to imagine.

Grandma Lin then conjured a small gust of wind as she walked to blow aside the thin curtain divider between the restaurant and the staircase to her home. Then she walked up the stairs as if she had done nothing out of the ordinary.

Hay Lin smiled.

Perhaps it wasn't too hard to imagine after all.

**-**

**END OF PART 1.**

**Stay tuned for part two. Don't change that dial—or rather, take off the alerts… Part 2 updates will still be placed on this.**

**-**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	16. Part 2 Chapter 1: The Next Step

**New character concepts for Nerissa (normal clothing). Comment, if you like.  
_Read on_:**

**-**

PART 2-- Chapter 1: 

-

Hay Lin woke up extra early the next morning, sneaking around the halls in the apartment above the restaurant. Barely able to contain her excitement, she opened the door to her grandmother's bedroom slowly. She knew her grandmother would still be sleeping inside, since Sunday was the only day the restaurant wasn't open for business, and thus it would seem only natural that she would be sleeping in.

It surprised her to see, then, that the room was empty, the bed made, and no one to be found. Shocked and a little confused, she made her way downstairs to check the restaurant, and found evidence of her grandmother's presence even though she was still nowhere to be seen. The light was on, and the smell of coffee and muffins from the kitchen.

Hay Lin followed her nose to the back kitchen, seeing her Grandma Lin busy at work over the tidy stove, pulling a batch of chocolate chip muffins out of the oven with a bright pink pair of oven mitts.

"Grandma!" Hay Lin greeted her with surprise. "What's all this?"

"You sleep too much, Hay Lin," her grandmother commented cheerily, placing the hot muffins on a plate and setting them before the young girl. "Careful, they are still hot."

"'Sleep too much'?" Hay Lin repeated with a laugh. "Grandma, it's six o'clock in the morning. I don't even get up this early for school!"

Her grandmother smiled knowingly, placing a mug of tea on the breakfast nook before her granddaughter.

"So why are you up this early today?"

"I didn't want to bother you with it… but…"

"Did you sleep at _all_, Hay Lin?" Grandma Lin asked with concern.

"A good couple hours, at least," Hay Lin confessed, powering through her embarrassment hopefully. Grandma Lin sighed.

"That's the last time I leave you hanging like that," she said with a grin of amusement.

"Oh, do you promise, Grandma?" Hay Lin said desperately. "That was the first time I've ever spent all night up like that! I couldn't get it out of my head—I was so worried for Ash and Tred, and you and Halinor and the queen, and _you_!"

"You said me twice," Grandma Lin observed as she brought her steaming cup of tea to her mouth.

"I was _doubly_ worried for you," Hay Lin replied quickly.

"Well," Grandma said with a smile, putting her porcelain glass of green tea back down on the counter. "We must mend that quickly, mustn't we?"

"Are you serious?" Hay Lin said with shock.

"Yes, quite," Grandma Lin said with a nod.

Hay Lin clapped in excitement.

"Awesome!" she exclaimed, barely able to keep on her seat. "And I promise I won't interrupt. I'll be as quiet as a church mouse. Not a peep from me."

"It is quite alright, Hay Lin," Grandma Lin reassured her. "If you do not understand something, you may ask."

"This is going to be a good day, I can tell," Hay Lin beamed. "Go ahead, Grandma, I'm dying here."

"Alright," Grandma Lin replied with a long breath. "Where did I leave off? Oh, yes…"

-

Sydrin stepped through the portal to the Earthen world beyond, followed closely by Nerissa, who still didn't quite have a grasp on her 'gate legs' and fell through, right on Sydrin.

"Watch yourself," Sydrin advised with annoyance in his voice, helping her back to her feet hurriedly.

"Sorry," Nerissa fumbled over words as she grew red in the face.

Nerissa brushed herself off, and took a look around at the others. They were back in the same park they had left from, by the very bridge they had met Ash for the first time. It seemed so long ago now… They had all seen and been through so much since then, and as always, it felt strange to be home.

She knew they would have to get the queen out of the public view quickly, in case anyone saw a white-haired woman in a dirty, torn renaissance dress gallivanting around the park. Sydrin needed to be hidden as well, for his bright green cat-eyes were sure to make people's head's turn.

"Com'on," Nerissa urged. "We'll let them stay at Yan's for now, since she's the only one who doesn't have parents to answer to."

"What are we going to do about Halinor?" Cassidy asked anxiously, planting her feet firmly on the ground. "We can't just leave her there in the clutches of some madman--"

"Do not be mistaken," Wilona interrupted her. "Favian is not just 'some madman'. He is a powerful villain that has everything under his control. I would not doubt that he has this is somehow falling into his plans as well. With Ash caught instead of me, it only goes more fortunate a road for him…"

"I don't think you understand," Kadma piped up cynically. "That's just what we _didn't_ want to happen. With all due respect, I don't feel your life was a fair trade for both Ash's _and_ Halinor's."

Sydrin got into Kadma's face closely, his eyes flaring with rage.

"You will treat her _highness_ with _respect_, young one…" he threatened strongly. "Or, so help me, it will cost you your--"

"That's quite all right, Cousin," Wilona said, putting her hand up to stop him. "Take a look around. Do you see any of my people here? My kingdom? I hold no power in this world, and I will take no high horse to the people who just saved my _life_."

Her sad eyes looked upon Kadma with sympathy.

"I understand and agree with you, my dear," she said in a soft voice. "If it were my choice Ash and your comrade would be free in my stead. But we cannot let their sacrifice be without retribution. Come, take me and Sydrin to your hiding place, and we shall discuss our next actions."

-

Wilona walked with a determined mindset, not letting herself be swept away by the curious wonders of the Earthen world, but instead kept her eyes low and followed Yan Lin without distraction.

Sydrin, on the other hand, seemed intrigued by the world around him as they made their way to Yan Lin's apartment, staring at the strange place with awe and wonder. Nerissa took it upon herself to force him onward, prying him away from new sights such as a small park rabbit, a blue tin mailbox, and a blind man with a seeing-eye dog.

When they finally made it back to the apartment, Yan Lin put on a large pot of tea on her tiny stove, and cleared out spaces for the large group to sit.

"But what did he need the dog for?" Sydrin said, still trying to grasp the understanding of the man with the dog as Nerissa struggled to explain.

"He needs the dog because he's blind."

"But whatever would anyone want with a blind _dog_?"

Cassidy stifled a laugh as best as she could, out of respect for Sydrin.

"No, no," Nerissa said impatiently. "The _dog's_ not blind… _he_ is!"

"Never-mind that," Kadma intervened. "We have to discuss how we are going to rescue Ash."

"Seems we're doing a _lot_ of rescues lately," Cassidy mumbled.

"I must, with a heavy heart, advise _against_ Ash's rescue," Wilona said with deep regret. "I fear rescuing him after our affair is exposed would not be wise. It would only appear to the public as an escape attempt on his part, thus solidifying his guilt to them. He would not stand a chance at trial."

"You will leave him with Roarke to be tortured for you?" Kadma spat with disbelief. Wilona bit her lip and stared at the ground with immediate sorrow, as Nerissa scolded Kadma silently.

"We do not bear much choice in the matter, if Ash is to have a chance to live at all," Wilona replied, her voice beginning to shake. "I would die if I ever saw a noose around his neck to die at the hands of my own people."

"I agree," Sydrin chimed in. "Rescue is not wise. Your fire guardian, though, is another matter entirely."

"Yes," Yan Lin piped up. "When can we go save _her_?"

"I will take the troops and go myself," Sydrin assured her. "As soon as we are able…"

"Sydrin," the queen said to him with a trembling tone. "In Ash's absence, leadership would be passed hereditarily…"

Everyone exchanged worried glances, and Sydrin, once over his surprise, seemed angry and was on his feet in an instant.

"You mean to tell me," he shot out. "That I am going to be under the orders of some low-ranking, dim-witted, selfish, army _brat_?"

"_Sydrin_!" Wilona reprimanded with shock that he would dare say such a thing. "This is law, you _know_ this!"

"The '_law_' is unjust," Sydrin complained.

Wilona's eyes lowered once more, having no grounds to disagree, feeling the same way toward the law forbidding her marriage to Ash.

"Even still," she said in a voice just above a whisper. "We must obey them duly and respectfully, no matter how it hurts us to. You will go to Tred, and you will speak of the matters we have discussed in a calm and collected manner. You will treat him as the superior he has now become."

"I will do so, for you and for Ash, Your Highness," Sydrin said with a small bow. "But do take note that I will not enjoy it."

"For now," Wilona said, turning back to the guardians. "Your only task is to go to the residence of Halinor's family, telling her parents where their child has gone. Speak the entire truth, but assure them she will surely be retrieved in full health soon."

"Wonderful," Cassidy grumbled, then looked to the others. "Who wants to be the one to tell Halinor's folks she was captured by an evil mage and being held in his castle dungeon in an alternate dimension?"

Nerissa, Kadma, and Yan Lin could only blink in reply, not knowing what words they could possibly use in response to that.

**-**

**A new 'season' is under way! That's how I see it, anyway. As my own personal W.I.T.C.H. series… Only it would be called C.H.Y.K.N., wouldn't it? Hmmm… Rock on! Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	17. Part 2 Chapter 2: Roarke's Apprentice

**New character concepts up for the mysterious apprentice, and also a new one of Ash.  
_Read on_:**

**-**

PART 2-- Chapter 1: 

-

"This is it," Nerissa said to the others, gazing at the card she held in her hand, and then looking up to make sure they had the right address. The school roster had led them to where Halinor lived. It was a trailer park, and Halinor's particular trailer was white, and though it was small, it wasn't very well kept.

Yan Lin, Cassidy and Kadma had all come with Nerissa for support, though Nerissa promised to do most of the talking.

No one could speak at the sight of the trailer before them, not only in fear of what they were about to do, but also in the shock of the beautiful Halinor living in such an ugly place as this. A crash was heard from the inside, soon followed by yells of an older man, which they could only assume was her father.

Nerissa gulped and clenched the small address card tighter in her hands.

"Go on," Yan Lin prompted.

Nerissa nodded and stepped through the small white picket gate and knocked on the fiberglass door. More yells were heard, this time from a woman, but no one answered the door. Nerissa knocked again, this time harder.

Suddenly the door flung open wide, and above them stood the angry man, bald and a little smelly, clothed in short shorts and a white undershirt. He held a drink in one hand, and some sort of magazine in the other.

"What is it?" he demanded so loudly it made the girls jump in surprise. "If you're selling anything, I don't want it."

"Sir, are you Halinor White's father?" Nerissa asked nervously.

"What's it to ya?" he said, taking a swig of his drink. "_Dang_ that girl—did she get in trouble _again_?"

"Well, in a way…" Nerissa tried to explain, but was interrupted.

"Well, you can tell that little blond floozy of mine that if she got herself in trouble she can get herself out of it. That's life—having to deal with problems yourself and the sooner she learns that the better!"

"Sir, you don't understand, she didn't do anything wrong--"

"--Well, that's a first! If you see her again you can tell her she's run away for the last time and she ain't welcome here no more. You hear? You tell her I don't want anything to do with whatever she's gotten herself into. You got that?"

Nerissa nodded and gave up.

"Yes, sir," she sighed in defeat.

"Good," he said, then slammed the door in their faces.

"Well," Cassidy commented. "I think he took that well, don't you?"

Suddenly the door opened again and the man poked his head out once more.

"And you girly-girls get off my property before I call the cops!"

He threw the door shut, this time indefinitely.

Nerissa sighed, and tossed the address card over her shoulder.

"Well, you heard the man," she said, and turned to go, only Kadma wouldn't have it.

"I insist we try again," she said, folding her arms defiantly. "They have a right to know the whereabouts of their daughter."

"You want them to know so bad, _you_ tell 'em," Cassidy dared her. "Cuz I think our work here is _done_."

"She's right, Kadma," Nerissa agreed. "We tried. We did our best, now let it go."

Kadma frowned, then followed the others.

"You don't think he really mean it," Yan Lin asked Cassidy with concern. "About never letting Halinor come home?"

"Frankly, I don't see why she'd _want_ to," Cassidy replied.

"Where will she go when she is brought back here?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Nerissa replied for her. "For now our only job is to save her, and soon too. Who knows what horrors she suffering in this very moment."

-

Halinor blinked open her eyes at a bright light upon them, and tried to focus on her surroundings. She saw she was in a large canopied bed, decorated with white linens and red and purple velvets, along with other fine medieval decorations and trimmings. She noticed quickly that she wasn't in her guardian uniform anymore, but rather a satin plum colored dress that was probably meant to be her nightgown. Her guardian attire was folded neatly on a nearby dresser.

The light was coming from a large window at least twenty feet high, with long purple drapes much like the one's that surrounded the outside of the canopy cradle. The brightness of the outside sky only aggravated the aching in her head. She rubbed her hand on her temple, as she tried to recall the events before she had lost consciousness.

All she could remember was leading the queen out of the dungeon, and a sour-looking boy with a large entourage, muttering something as he held his hand over her face, then all went black…

"Metamoor is usually dark nowadays," a male voice explained in a sharp tone. "But we let you have a little light to lift your spirits."

It was then she noticed that very same boy standing by the window, having been the culprit of moving the drapes aside to let the sun in. He wore dark clothing, to match the black hair that fell into his eyes, which only made his silver orbs stand out all the more. They were bright and piercing like daggers, seeming as if they could look straight through you. Halinor grew fearful of them immediately.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, clutched the blankets up to her neck to cover herself. "Who are you? We're still in the castle? Why did you bring me here?"

"So full of questions," he said, shaking his head sadly. "Which one would you have me answer first?"

"Who are you?" Halinor asked again.

He smiled softly, as if amused.

"Does my name really matter that _much_ to you?"

Halinor scowled, sensing he was mocking her.

"I have to have a name to know what to put on my hurt list," she replied. "You'll definitely be near the top."

"Your pathetic threats don't frighten me," he assured her, then snapped his fingers. Just above his hand, appeared a small blue flame. "For we are of kindred spirits. I am a thief of power, you see."

"Wonderful," Halinor replied, then threw caution to the wind, folded back the blankets and stood upright. She had never really been one for modesty anyway, but she could see plainly that he was appalled at her indiscretion, for his expression changed at the sight of her before him in the satin nightgown. It wasn't one of approval, but rather of distaste. Halinor couldn't help but be offended at his disgust.

"Well, it's been fun," Halinor said, shivering a bit in the cold. "But I'm going to be leaving now."

He said nothing as she walked all the way to the door, and she couldn't help but wonder why he was simply letting her go. She put hand on the knob and tried to turn, but it stayed put.

"It's locked," he said at last. He was playing with her, and it immediately aroused her temper.

"_Thank_ you!" Halinor snapped back sarcastically. "Would you mind telling me why you're keeping me here?"

"You've been captured," he replied coolly, unsheathing his sword and wiping it down with a white cloth. "You're our prisoner of war. I've been told to keep a watch over you and to make sure you don't have any means to escape."

"You're my watchboy, huh?" Halinor said, folding her arms and frowning at the boy. He glared right back. "A little _young_, aren't you?"

"No more than _you_ are, little guardian. Do not underestimate me," he warned. "It would be your last mistake."

"Oh, _now_ I'm scared."

"You mock me?" he said, as if it were a challenge.

"_Yes_, I 'mock' you."

His temper was just as quick as hers apparently, for he went to her and flicked his sword back to a familiar place under her chin, his face clenching into a rage so hastily it made Halinor wonder if she had struck a bad nerve. It was so sudden a movement that it made her stumble backward in surprise.

"Do _not_ mock me," he growled his dreary command. "For I have seen more horrors that you can ever begin to dream of. Just the stories of them would be enough to set your long curls straight forever."

Then, as if realizing he had gone a little overboard, he lowered his sword, a flash of shame in his eyes. Or was that pain? Suddenly Halinor felt a pang of pity for the lad. Whatever did he do to deserve a place of servitude to an evil mage?

"Who _are_ you?" she breathed in wonder.

"Dante," he said at last. "My name is Dante."

**-**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	18. Part 2 Chapter 3: Sydrin's Return

**_Read on_:**

**-**

**PART 2-- Chapter 3:**

**-**

As the girls returned to Yan Lin's apartment after their visit to Halinor's home, they found themselves dumbfounded with silence at all they had seen there. No one had the heart to comment on its foul state or ghastly manner of her parents. No one had the gall to say a word.

Kadma, Cassidy and Nerissa all decided it was best to stay at Yan Lin's apartment for the night, since their parents all still were under the impression their daughters were off at their 'ski trip' with the school.

Sydrin had charged all of them with keeping a close watch on the queen as well; whom they decided was safest on this side of the portal rather than to risk being captured again in Meridian. She stayed quietly and contentedly in Yan Lin's small apartment reading up on various books on earthen life they had brought for her from the library. Sydrin had wanted to stay one more day to make sure the queen was settled. When he finally decided it was time for him to go back to Meridian, Nerissa, Yan Lin and Cassidy all went to see him off, while Kadma stayed behind with the queen.

Nerissa had to admit she was sad to see Sydrin go, wishing there was some excuse she could use to make Sydrin stay. She felt safer with him around, even more so than she felt in the security of Ash's presence. She bit her lip and decided not to make a spectacle of herself in front of Yan Lin and Cassidy.

Sydrin stepped through the portal Nerissa had made for him boldly, his bow gripped in his hand, but before he went through, Nerissa grabbed him by the arm before she could stop herself. He looked at her with utter confusion, so she quickly thought of something she could say to put reason behind her actions.

"Don't lose your temper with Tred," she warned rashly.

Sydrin nodded reassuringly and set off again, only to have his arm grabbed by Nerissa once more.

"Just gently guide Tred into the right decisions," she gave him once last ounce of advice. "With your help he shouldn't go wrong."

"I'm going to need that arm back, Nerissa," Sydrin said with an impatient frown.

"Oh," she said, dropping her hand away from him immediately. "Sorry."

She watched as Sydrin left through the swirling portal and beyond sight. Nerissa sorrowfully held up the heart and closed it after him.

"Com'on, ladies," she prompted, then started off for where she came from. When she heard no following footsteps behind her, she stopped and glanced back at the others to see what was holding them up.

She turned to see two matching sets of Cheshire Cat smiles and taunting eyes staring back at her with amusement. Cassidy and Yan Lin exchanged their looks with one another, and then directed them back at Nerissa.

"_What_?" Nerissa asked her closest friends with confusion.

"Oh, nothing," Yan Lin replied with a giggle, still keeping her frozen smile.

"Nothing at all…" Cassidy confirmed cheerily, then went skipping ahead, humming to herself that annoying children's song about kissing in a tree…

"Oh, don't be silly, you two," Nerissa assured her friends, trying to keep her composure even through her flaming cheeks. "You're being immature."

"If you say so, Nerissa," Cassidy teased. "If you say so…!"

-

Kadma poured her third glass of tea that hour, before settling back into her chair as she impatiently waited for the other guardians to return. Kadma's eyes were fixed upon the queen, who sat snugly in her chair with a large book on American history, seemingly lost in its words. The woman seemed to be the embodiment of perfection. She could see very plainly why Ash would be in love with her— she had it all, looks, brains, and a big heart.

This very fact was the reason Kadma glared daggers at the hated queen, feeling like the majestic woman had stolen Ash away from her, even though she knew in reality Ash was never Kadma's to begin with.

Kadma pouted in her chair, looking into her glass of tea with scorn. It all seemed so unfair.

"You seem upset," the queen observed, glancing over the top of the book to look at Kadma across the room.

"I'm distressed by recent discoveries, Your Highness," she said a little harsher than she had meant to.

At this, Wilona put a mark in her book, closed it, and set it on her lap.

"You bear feelings for Ash," Wilona said decidedly. "Strong feelings."

Kadma didn't know what to say, wondering how the queen could guess such things.

"I can see that in you very plainly," Wilona answered as if she had read Kadma's mind. "It is part of my magical gift. How long have you carried these feelings?"

Kadma looked away, dreading eye contact.

"With all due respect," she replied promptly. "I'd rather not discuss it."

"Of course," Wilona said agreeably. "Then why did you stay behind, rather than go with your friends to see off Sydrin? Surely not to sit with me in silence?"

Kadma stared at the queen with surprise. This queen was indeed as wise as people claimed. Kadma let her curiosity get the better of her.

"How long have you and Ash been married?"

"Twenty-two days now," she replied honestly. "A week before my coronation, and twelve hours before the death of my mother."

Kadma knew it was best to insert condolences here, but couldn't rustle up the means to.

"I would like very much for you to tell me a story," Kadma said, standing up to go to closer seating to Wilona. "Of how you came to be married to him… I just don't understand how he could get a _queen_ to fall in love with him."

Wilona laughed and set her book aside.

"He would say the same thing," she agreed with a smile. "No one has ever had the privilege to hear or know our story before. You are the first, so you must realize it must remain a secret."

Kadma kept quiet, and nodded intently.

"The story starts with me as a young princess," Wilona began with a deep breath. "And my good playmate, Ash, who was the son of my loyal bodyguard. Ash and I bonded quickly, for he was always very kind. When he became of age, he went off in his father's footsteps and enlisted in the army, and I didn't see him again for many years. We grew up into strong people, as we were meant to, and soon forgot those frivolous days of playtime in our youth. When Ash's father received a promotion as leader of the armies, Ash then answered the call to take his father's place as my bodyguard. He served his princess well, rescuing me from many dangers… until one day, I found…"

Kadma sighed, and found herself beginning to empathize in spite of herself.

"You fell for him," Kadma guessed.

"I imagine you can figure out why," Wilona grinned. "What I did not know, was that Ash had fallen in love with me as well. But we were bound to duty, so we fought our feelings for what seemed like an eternity… in reality, a half a decade. At the end of the fifth year, my feelings for him had grown so strong that the emotional stress began to eat away at my magic, and my life began to fail. It was on my ailing bed when Ash decided he could not let this woman die of causes unknown to him without confessing his heart to her before she passed, and on that night I told him I felt the same. On the day following our secret confessions, my health healed miraculously, much to the confusion of my physicians."

Kadma couldn't help but chuckle at that as well.

"But the harshest pain came in the years to follow, for holding back from our mutual attachment proved to be even harder a task than keeping it hidden, until our love became too much to deny. We finally stole away in the night and married, promising to expose ourselves to my mother the very next day. As fate would have it, my mother passed that very morning, before she ever could hear the news and give us her blessing. So thus, the young princess then became the young queen, and with this status change, our marriage was no longer legal. On the night of my coronation, we came to the decision that we would go on with our lives as if nothing had ever been between us before."

Wilona sighed very deeply at this, her violet eyes growing watery and pained. Kadma felt a little guilty, having been the one to ask of their story in the first place.

"Your highness," she said gently. "I did not mean to cause you further anguish."

Wilona looked up at Kadma with solemn intensity.

"And I did not wish for you to think his love is wasted on one who does not bear the same amount of feelings as you do."

Kadma couldn't break away from her unwavering stare. As Kadma gazed into the queen's honest eyes, she knew in the depths of her soul that this woman was telling her the truth.

"I can see now that I hold no torch to your love for him," Kadma observed seriously. "I must admit: yours is more true a love than I have ever seen."

Wilona wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her dress, and Kadma put a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder, putting all prior cold feelings toward her aside. Kadma put aside the anger and the scorn, finally realizing that her small crush on Ash was nothing compared to this woman's binds to the man.

"I don't see how he and I can ever be," Wilona admitted, throwing her arms around Kadma's neck and embracing her tightly. "But I will settle for at least having him live through these dark times."

"I will bring him back to you, your highness," Kadma promised. "Alive… you have my word on that."

-

Sydrin sighed as he stood before all the soldiers in the Crux, who had anxiously gathered around him to hear news of the rescue and of their leader's fate.

Sydrin's eyes fell on Tred before he spoke. The sight of the foolish young boy only aroused a bitter taste in his mouth, despising what he was about to reveal to him.

"Company," Sydrin began gloomily. "The queen has been rescued, and has been taken into a hiding place for safekeeping."

The crowd erupted in cheers and whistles, but their excitement soon died when they realized that Sydrin was not finished yet.

Sydrin clenched and unclenched the handle of his bow, and furrowed his brow. A nearby soldier, who could not wait through his impatience, burst out:

"And what of Ashlee?"

"Yes!" another shouted. "What has become of our leader?"

Sydrin's eyes fell on Tred once more, who was smiling already like he knew what was coming.

"He has been…" Sydrin stumbled over the words, dreading them like death. "Captured."

Gasps and murmurs came next, and Tred jumped to his feet. All eyes fell on the boy, who turned to face the army himself.

"Do not fear, all!" Tred commanded them boldly. Sydrin tried to coax him into a private word together, but Tred was insistent on staying to address the army. "Just because my brother is not with us, does not mean you are without great leadership in his absence! For _I_--!"

But the soldiers simply ignored him and paid him no regard, and began to disperse, as if the significant announcements had ended. They made their way back to their various tents, just as the first drops of rain began to fall, and the clouds above blocked the sun's light, making the sky grow dark and dreary.

"Wait!" Tred called after them as the thunder rolled overhead. "You have to obey my command! Come back!"

Sydrin began to leave as well, but Tred stopped him with a firm grip on Sydrin's right shoulder.

"Sydrin, wait," Tred said sternly. "Have you so little faith in a boy who bears the same blood as your great leader Ashlee?"

"Not when you have proven that the honor, bravery and intellect… seemed to pass only to the firstborn."

Sydrin shook off the young boy's hold on him, hinting at his vast disrespect, and continued on his way.

Tred frowned angrily, his face falling cold at Sydrin's insolence. He would get the esteem he was due, so help him…

"Filthy _cross_-breed!" he yelled at Sydrin's back, making the white-haired man stop in his tracks. "How _dare_ you turn your back to your ranking _officer_!" Tred spat.

Sydrin froze, his insides instantly boiling, barely managing to keep his back turned to the boy. His hands clenched and shook in anger, his anger level at maximum.

"_WHAT_ did you say?" he challenged Tred to open his mouth again.

Tred knew better than that, quite aware that he had gone to far. He immediately shut his mouth.

But Sydrin wouldn't let him off the hook that easily. He stormed right up to Tred and grabbed him by the collar, and brought him close to his face.

"How _dare_ you say that to me, you sniveling little--"

He stopped in midsentence, breathing heavily and simply staring at the boy in his clutches for several moments. Then, as if remembering the advice and warnings of his friends, he sighed, and let Tred go, much to the boy's confusion and relief.

"Do not get too comfortable on your high horse, Tred," Sydrin warned with a forced grin, as once again he turned to take his leave. "Ash _will_ be returning soon…"

"You'd do best to show me respect, Sydrin!" Tred called after him. "You will be sorry if that day never comes… You will!"

**-**

**  
That Tred, my goodness… Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**

**Ps. Check out my character concepts! For those who don't know, it has a concept and small bio on each character, with new postings all the time. My latest ones are going to be hand drawn 'screencaps' of recent scenes, coming soon—so keep and eye out. Just go to my profile page and click on the 'homepage' link to see them. Thanks!**


	19. Part 2 Chapter 4: Quintessence

**-**

**PART 2-- Chapter 4:**

**-**

Halinor stared out the window of her empty suite that held her prisoner. They were right about Metamoor being a dark place, for she could barely see past the haze and fog to spot the view.

Being alone was depressing, she decided. She almost wished that Dante boy would come back just so she could have someone to talk to. Being by herself all the time got really old rather quickly.

Halinor tested her powers long ago, but somehow they didn't work. It must be because of the stupid bracelet they had placed on her wrist. As she recalled, they had mentioned they had done something similar to the queen herself.

Halinor sighed and plopped herself in front of the vanity mirror. She sifted through the drawers. It didn't seem like the boy had left any spare keys behind, of course. She was also feeling quite hungry.

No sooner had she thought this, when the door slid open and the boy named Dante entered the room, carrying a tray of food she didn't recognize. He set the tray on a small table in the middle of the room.

"Eat," he commanded, then turned to leave.

Her loneliness getting the better of her, she put up a hand in protest and called after him.

"Wait!"

He stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"What?" he snapped.

"Don't _you_ eat?"

Now he turned to her fully, a look of confusion flickering in his eyes at her apparent concern.

"I eat when I've earned it."

Halinor snickered.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Rightly assuming he knew what she was feeling, he helped himself to a seat at the table, then motioned to the tray again.

"Eat," he commanded once more.

Halinor cautiously stepped toward the table, and pulled out a chair for herself. She looked down at her plate. There was seemingly normal enough food. Some thin meat, bread, and few vegetables.

"Is this breakfast or dinner?"

Dante was not amused.

"Pick one."

Halinor nibbled at the roll of bread. It was warm, though a bit sour, but still good.

"I've been wondering," she said. "Why are you keeping me here? I mean, you have Ash. Why keep me around?"

"Do you really want to _question_ it?" Dante said with warning, then threw his gaze to the window. The boy really was a rather short-tempered individual, but that was understandable, considering he was one of the bad guys.

Halinor looked to the door. She wondered if he had left it unlocked or not. Her eyes fell to the utensils next to her plate. The fork stood out above the rest. The nice, pointy little fork. Slowly she wrapped her long, thin fingers around the cold silver, her eyes now locked on the distracted Dante.

Suddenly she launched herself at him, throwing herself across the table and aiming the fork for any contact. He reacted even more quickly than she had acted, flipping from his chair and flying over her, landing securely on the table with knee to her back and a knife to her neck.

"Drop it," he said coldly. Halinor, still stunned and out of breath, didn't quite register his words. He sat harder on her back and tightened the space between the blade and her throat.

"I said: _drop_ the weapon."

Halinor opened her fist and let the fork fall to the ground. Immediately Dante let her go.

"Do you _always_ try to murder your company?" he said with a smirk.

Halinor rubbed her throat in contempt.

"I could ask the same of you."

"I think now that you have that out of your system we can at least be civilized?"

He grabbed a piece of her bread and began to chew heartily.

"I thought you only eat when you've earned it?" Halinor said as she picked up her overturned chair and sat on it again.

"I just did," he replied smoothly.

Halinor didn't understand what he meant by that, but let it go. As she picked at her vegetables, she watched him as he silently ate his roll as if it were the most delicious thing in the world. She wondered again at how often he ate, but judging by his size and the way he was attacking his roll, she figured she had her answer.

It was then she noticed a small lettering on his forearm, a single Meridian letter. Knowing better than to ignore tattoos around these parts, she asked him what it meant.

He looked down to where she was pointing, then quickly covered the mark with his cape.

"It's the mark of the Forsaken," he rapidly replied in a humble voice. He searched her face for her reaction to this news, but found none, so he tried again.

"An orphan."

Halinor put her spoon down and her mouth gaped open, her heart swelling with pity. For several moments she simply stared at the boy before her.

"How?" she breathed.

"They were slaughtered when I was an infant by the very people you side with. The very man those brainless soldiers make their lives a shrine to. The old leader of the armies-- Ashlee's father."

Halinor gasped.

"I don't believe it."

"Roarke saved me from my parent's burning home. I owe him _everything_."

"That's hogwash!" Halinor shouted, flying to her feet. "And I suppose _Roarke_ was the one who fed you these lies?"

"Roarke is the only person who has ever been honest with me, Guardian. How dare you accuse such a great man!"

"If he's such a great man, then why does he create monsters, or hold people captive, or torture my friends?"

"He does what is best for the _PEOPLE_!"

"Oh, grow _up_! He does what's best for _HIMSELF_."

Dante could not find an answer to this, and blinked back in surprise. For a moment his eyes raced, his mind swarming with thought, but seemed to shake it all aside. His icy eyes glared at her with a newfound spite.

"You have been here for a day, and already you think you know everything. You're just a little girl."

With that he stormed to the door.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, little boy…!" she called after him, just before he slammed the door closed.

-

Wilona sat beside Nerissa on a bench in the abandoned park, watching as the other three guardians practiced using their powers on one another. Nerissa envied the others and their talents, wishing she was as useful as they were. She recalled the last mission, and how Sydrin had to save her hide every five seconds, while she remained the damsel in distress. There had to be a use for her too, besides just amplifying the others… right?

"You are troubled," Wilona observed silently, not taking her eyes off the others in the distance.

"I just wish I had powers like theirs. Something useful in battle."

Wilona looked to Nerissa as if completely taken aback at her words.

"But you _do_!" she insisted. "Surely your book mentioned _quintessence_?"

"Quin-a-what?"

"It is your element. Spirit, energy, the very life force."

"I don't think so…" Nerissa said with doubt in her voice, but the queen was convinced.

"Stand up," the queen commanded, doing the same herself. "Stand tall."

Kadma, Yan Lin, and Cassidy all stopped training to watch curiously.

"Now close your eyes," Wilona went on. "Imagine yourself in battle. Quintessence manifests itself in heightened stress and raw determination… so this is what you must dwell on in your mind."

Nerissa concentrated hard, squeezing her eyelids together and biting her lip. She imagined that day at the Crux, when all hell had broken loose, when people fought left and right. Then she imagined when they faced the Raiken, those horrendous wolf-demons in the woods.

"Alright," she heard Wilona's voice say. "Now imagine someone you care for immensely in great peril… let the courage and determination flow down to your fingertips…"

The other girls watched in awe as Nerissa's hands began to spark static in-between her fingers, which grew into a yellow flow of electricity in her hands.

When Kadma gasped, Nerissa opened her eyes suddenly, her concentration lost. The small amount of energy in her hands disappeared immediately. Still, all were impressed, and applauded her work.

"That was amazing!" Kadma gushed. "Who was your person in danger?"

Nerissa bit her lip and cast her eyes to the floor. Cassidy exchanged knowing glances with Yan Lin, who smiled in return. They suspected they knew the answer to that.

"No one," Nerissa finally replied. "Just one of us, I guess."

"At any rate," Wilona patted her on the back approvingly. "That was a splendid first try. I think with a little more practice you will become more powerful than any of your teammates."

Nerissa looked to the queen with hopeful surprise.

"That powerful?"

"That and more," the queen assured her with a smile. "Energy is a limitless element. But use with discretion—you don't want to be overwhelmed by it."

"I'm sure I won't," Nerissa promised, holding the heart up to her face, looking upon it in a new light.

-

Halinor held her dinner tray above her head, as she stood upon a chair to the right of the door. She had heard the footsteps coming down the hall, very likely belonging to her watchboy. Just a few more seconds of waiting and he would be walking through that door…

Halinor listened to him stick the key into the lock, twisting it until it clicked loudly. The doorknob then began to turn, slowly allowing the door to open and for Dante to step inside…

Halinor immediately crashed the tray down on the boy's head as hard as she could, making him crumble to the ground. Surprised that her plan had worked, it took her a few moments to finally jet out the door from which he had come.

She hadn't gotten so far in her plan to know what she was to do next in her escape. She now realized that she had no idea where to go in this huge castle, and every hall she turned down looked the same. Every one was long, empty and dark. She grabbed a torch off the wall to help her see, but it did her no good without a guide.

Still she walked on, looking to her left, and too her right, until she noticed just a moment too late that she wasn't looking where she was walking. She smacked her nose right into a chestplate of cold steel armor.

Halinor slowly dragged her eyes upward, dread setting in for what she had crashed into. She hoped desperately in the back of her mind that this was just a decorative suit of armor… but she knew in her heart otherwise.

The guard snorted angrily down at the young girl. It was like no guard she had seen before, with large scales on his face, green snake-like skin and a pig nose.

Halinor screamed for her life and ran back the way she had come. Even if she had not been so terrified at the sight, she had no powers to fend off monsters.

The guard pursued her with more speed than she herself possessed, and gained on her quickly, grabbing at her satin dress and making her fall to the ground.

"No!" she called out. "Let me go!"

The beast seemed incapable of speech and simply snarled in reply, raising his weapon over her body in preparation of a killing blow. Squealing loudly, he brought it crashing down on her… Halinor screamed and covered her head…

Only to hear a clang of steel striking another piece of metal. She opened her eyes to see Dante, putting all his strength into blocking the beast from butchering her. A single slash, and the creature was slain, falling to the ground next to her in a lifeless heap.

Dante panted to catch his breath after such exertions, then turned to look at Halinor, who was still lying on the ground. After a moment, he reached his hand out to her, offering to help her to her feet. Cautiously, she accepted, letting her hand slip into his. He grasped it firmly and easily lifted her back to her feet.

Halinor was still stunned from what had just happened, and wiped the dust off her arms as Dante rubbed the spot on his head where she had surely hit him. She didn't know what to say, besides:

"Thank you," she said to him sincerely.

Dante replied by raising his sword to her eye level, his eyes narrowing in a threatening gaze.

"Back to your chamber, _now_."

**-**

**  
Sorry it took so long to update! Won't happen again, I assure you. Please review.   
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	20. Part 2 Chapter 5: Return to Meridian

**This chapter is dedicated to shelton, for being an awesome reviewer. Thanks shelton!  
_Read on:_**

**-**

**Part 2 -- Chapter 5:**

-

Nerissa sighed that day in class. It felt so wrong to be on earth nowadays. She had never really felt like she fit in, but upon discovering the alternative it made being in this world feel even more inapt. In Meridian, she was appreciated, just for being who she was. She felt more invited and at home there than she ever felt in _this_ world.

Which is exactly why she tapped her fingers so impatiently upon her desk. She couldn't wait for school to end so she could get back to Meridian. Making portals had become more natural than breathing. And, though she'd never admit it, she was worried for Sydrin and even beginning to miss him a little. No boy around here could even compare with Sydrin's regal presence, his cat-like grace, his noble personality. In fact, she couldn't think of one thing on earth that was better than Meridian, expect maybe for indoor plumbing.

Nerissa was also worried for Halinor, and couldn't stand to sit around and plan while she sat in prison with that horrible boy, most likely suffering various tortures for them. Soon, soon they would save her, for sure.

At long last, the bell finally rang, and Nerissa hurriedly gathered her books and tied them tightly with her book-belt, then located Yan Lin and Cassidy and exited the classroom. They had agreed to meet up with Kadma at Yan Lin's house, where they were hiding the queen. Kadma got off school much earlier than themselves, and had agreed to keep a watch over the queen so that she didn't find trouble.

They were all set, walking down the halls in their usual threesome. Nerissa had grown to value her friends like gold. Yan Lin was such a good listener, had good humor now and then, and gave wonderful advice. Cassidy was all around a pleasure to hang with, with her sweet optimism and cheery disposition, to counter her own.

The three held their heads high of late, confidence beaming from them like a glowing light. They had a talent, a secret talent they were proud to hide, even if they received no praise for it. They knew a place where they would be most highly regarded, and all three couldn't wait to get back.

That is, until they had a minor setback, in the form of a boy.

"Hey, Nerissa!"

Cassidy grinned broadly as Nerissa groaned under her breath, for all three girls could recognize just who that voice belonged to.

Yan Lin giggled in amusement of it all, while Nerissa shot her a look for it. Cassidy simply fluffed her curly red locks and tried her best to be attractive.

"Hey, Steve…" Nerissa forced out unenthusiastically.

"I've been looking all over for you for months," Steve laughed. "But you're just too quick for me!"

"Not quick enough," Nerissa muttered, but Steve didn't catch the insult.

"Hiya, Steve," Cassidy butt in, but Steve just nodded in her direction politely in reply.

"Listen," he said seriously to Nerissa. "Are you doing anything Saturday night?"

"Goshdarn," Nerissa said quickly. "As a matter of fact, I promised the girls we'd go out. So sorry."

"That's okay-- why don't you bring them along?"

"Oh, won't that be fun!" Cassidy exclaimed with excitement.

"Shut up, Cassie!" Nerissa hissed through her teeth. "We've been planning this for days, and--"

"Oh, we can do that anytime," Cassidy argued, then turned back to Steve. "Now, where did you say you wanted to meet up?"

-

Sydrin bent himself slightly to come into Tred's tent. The smug-looking new leader was wearing Ash's own armor, and carrying his brother's own sword. The sight disgusted Sydrin all the more. He stood tall, as if he enjoyed torturing Sydrin and the other soldiers because they were crippled against fighting back.

"You called, Tred?" Sydrin said, announcing his presence. Tred turned to face him.

"Yes…" he said, waving him over to Ash's map table. "What is the fastest route to Theden?"

"Theden, as in, the ice cliffs?" Sydrin asked in surprise. "What is your business there?"

"Answer the question, Sydrin."

Sydrin furrowed his brow and didn't even bother to look at the map. He knew Meridian better than he knew his own reflection.

"That would be through the Kreen Forests."

"Thank you, that'll be all," Tred waved him off.

"Might I ask what your business is there?" Sydrin asked again.

"Our scouts gave word of a guard platoon there. I'm sending in a regiment to head them off. Better us taking them by surprise than the other way around."

Sydrin could barely speak through his shock at Tred's audacity.

"Tred, that's just wasting perfectly good men!"

"Did I _ask_ for your opinion?" Tred snapped. "And call me sir, for the last time! Before I report you."

Then Tred seemed to spark an idea.

"In fact, you will _lead_ the regiment."

Sydrin closed his mouth, and glared at the young boy without a word.

"You may go now, Sydrin," Tred said with an evil smile, but Sydrin was already on his way out.

-

"I still can't believe you did that, Cassie!" Nerissa cried as they entered Yan Lin's apartment. "You _know_ how I feel about Steve!"

"And you know how _I_ feel about him!" Cassidy countered. "You can suffer through this for me!"

"Actually," Yan Lin added. "I think he is nice fellow, Nerissa. You should give him better chance."

"Arguing about that Steve West boy again?" Kadma asked, probably out of boredom as she and Wilona sat down with a bowl of grapes.

"Not arguing," Nerissa insisted. "Because it is a done deal. I am not going."

"Saving yourself for Sydrin, aye, Nerissa?"

Nerissa whipped her head around to Kadma faster than lightning, glaring with murder in her eyes. Yan Lin glanced at the queen, who turned her head to hide her amused smile.

"You take that back!" Nerissa commanded.

"I only speak the truth, you know that," Kadma said stoically. "Now, stop being a baby about it. Send Cassidy off alone with a message about you catching the flu. You're happy, she's happy, we're all happy because we can stop talking about it. Can we go to Meridian now?"

"Sure." Nerissa sighed and pulled out the heart. "You all right here, your highness?"

"This is turning out to be just a more comfortable prison, my friends. You will ask about when it is safe for me to return, won't you?"

"I'll make sure it comes up in conversation," Nerissa promised.

-

Nerissa closed the portal and walked with the other three Guardians, following each other in single file to the Crux. Nerissa immediately spotted Sydrin sitting on the ground outside the Crux gates, his head in his hands. Fearing the worst, Nerissa ran to him, calling out his name in worry as the others trailed behind.

"Sydrin, what's wrong?" Nerissa said breathlessly when she reached him.

His looked up to her with saddened eyes, and said nothing.

"Is Ashlee dead? Halinor?"

"No," he replied woefully. "_I_ am. Tred has just sentenced me to death."

"_What_?" the girls said in unison.

"Why would he do such a thing?" Cassidy was the first to ask.

"He has never liked me, for what I am."

"Which is?" Kadma pressed.

"A half-breed," he replied. "A 'cross'. I am a result of forbidden breeding. I am nothing but a waste of gene pool scum."

Nerissa knelt down to her knees, to Sydrin's level, so that she could look at him directly.

"You are not scum, Sydrin," she said firmly. "You are not to anyone but Tred, who is scum to everyone else."

"We're going to get this straightened out immediately," Kadma insisted. "Surely we are a higher command than Tred. If not us, than surely someone…"

"Not anyone is higher than Ashlee, save for the council, but I would never waste their time on a command such as this. It is Tred's right to order what he deems fit, no matter how foolish or ill-wishing it may seem. I must obey, and take the regiment on the doomed expedition."

"When do you leave?" Yan Lin asked.

"Dawn," he said boldly, like he was announcing an execution time, which was true enough.

"There has to be _some_thing we can do!" Nerissa said desperately.

"Yes," Sydrin said, rising to his feet. "You may say your goodbyes."

He offered his hand to Nerissa to help her rise as well. She stared at it for a moment, and suddenly forgot there was anyone else around save for her and Sydrin. Slowly, she slipped her white hand into his and let him grip it tightly and lift her upright.

Then, spotting the others watching, she let go of him quickly and flushed red.

"Goodbye, Sydrin," she said quickly.

He looked confused for a moment at her brashness, but let it go. One by one, the others hugged him in turn, sadly muttering feeble goodbyes to their dear friend.

Nerissa was beside herself in shock and mixed feelings. Sydrin was leaving… and he wasn't coming back? It all seemed so darkly surreal, like a bad nightmare.

"Com'on, guys," Kadma said to Cassidy and Yan Lin, as she eyed Nerissa closely. "Let's go tell the other boys goodbye as well."

Kadma led Cassidy and Yan Lin through the gates, as Nerissa lingered behind.

Suddenly Nerissa knelt down and pecked Sydrin on the cheek, to which he seemed utterly dumbfounded by. He fingered the spot she had kissed him, looking to her with bewilderment.

"What was that?" he said, genuinely confused.

"It's called a kiss," she explained sheepishly.

"What's it for?" he asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," she shrugged it off as her cheeks fell hot again. "It's just for luck."

He nodded his understanding.

"Well then, I thank you."

"No problem," she retorted hurriedly, then chased after the other Guardians into the Crux without another word.

-

**Again, sorry it's been so long. Life has been, in a word, crazy. But another update is on its way. Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	21. Part 2 Chapter 6: Dangerous Dante

**This chapter is dedicated to CelestialSecrets, the best reviewer an author can ask for. Thanks for your dedicated support.**

**-**

**PART 2-- Chapter 6:**

-

Dante walked slowly into Roarke's dining chambers, where his massive stretch of table served as the marking of the distance Dante kept from his master. He stood straight in a soldier's stance, his arms folded behind his back and his posture erect. Silence came through the cathedral-like ceiling of the room, as Dante waited patiently for Roarke to speak first before he spoke himself, as he had been taught since childhood.

For many moments, he stood watching his master eat his hearty meal, chewing on the leg of some burnt poultry. Dante couldn't control his stomach growling at the sight, and tried to make his gaze fall elsewhere. In his philosophy, the mind was always over the body, and body always over matter. Thus, if he told himself he was not hungry, then he wasn't, and that was that. It was the way he had always lived. Yet for some reason, ever since the captive Guardian girl had asked why he didn't eat, the back of his subconscious had been asking him the same. His mind was falling weak. It was a foolishness he was determined to deal with at once.

Mind was over body, body over matter. Always.

Roarke noticed the emotionless boy staring at his dinner with a faraway look in his eyes.

"Are you desiring to fill yourself, Dante?" Roarke asked. Dante immediately snapped out of his trance and stared his master in the eye.

"No, sir," he replied rapidly.

"Do I not feed you enough?"

"Yes, sir, more than enough," Dante replied again.

"I see greed in your eyes, boy," Roarke said, rising from his seat in great displeasure. Dante sensed immediately that something had upset him before Dante had even entered the room.

"I give you everything you could possibly need," Roarke went on as he walked toward Dante. "And you still want more."

Dante fell confused and slightly fearful of the older man, having never seen him act this way toward his young ward before.

"I desire nothing more, sir," he replied, standing even straighter as Roarke came near. "You are mistaken."

Suddenly Roarke's hand came flying down upon Dante's face. It was a strike he had not been prepared for, coming from his master, and the force of the blow struck him to the ground. Dante slowly lifted his face off the stone floor, propping himself up with his arms. He could see plainly the blood that dripped from his mouth to the floor.

"You let her get away," Roarke accused him as he paced in wide, cross steps. "You had a simple task. To keep her locked up. And you let her get out."

"She struck me from behind," Dante explained in his defense, growing angry. "She was waiting for me when I got there--"

"Of course she was _waiting_ for you! What would _you_ do if you were a captive?! I thought I trained you to be on alert at all times? I overglorified you. A mistake-- fine. Mistakes can be remedied."

Roarke leaned down close to Dante's face.

"But _then_ you go and slay one of my castle guards. You strike down one of my own _men_. Tell me, how am I supposed to remedy _that_?"

"You instructed me to keep her alive--"

"We are going to kill her anyway, don't you understand? The only reason she is here is to provide leverage with the Council. Once we frame her murder on Ash, he will be condemned for sure. Who cares if she dies now or later or by whose hand? It will all end the same to me."

Dante was taken aback at this news.

"You mean to frame the army leader?" Dante repeated.

"Of course!" Roarke retorted, his anger suddenly dissipating. "I expected you to be glad of it… after what his father did to your parents."

Dante frowned, his brow furrowing together in distress.

"Don't you want your revenge?" Roarke asked in a low voice, putting his arm around the boy's shoulders gently. "Don't you want to end your internal suffering?"

Dante's mind swarmed in confused thoughts, that girl's voice in his head not shutting up, his own subconscious asking why Roarke would strike him, why he would want justice this way…?

Oh, but yes, Dante did want the suffering inside to cease. Every day the injustice of the disgraceful mark on his forearm brought back the haunting memories. They only came in flashes, images of a burning long cabin in the forest, of a woman screaming, of a man grabbing him from fire all around. Dante squeezed his eyes shut, trying to shove aside the horrible sight so vivid in his mind's eye.

"You are growing weak, Dante," Roarke commented. "I can see that very plainly."

"I am not weak," he insisted, feeling his temper boil inside.

A guard came into the room then, going to Dante and whispering something into his ear, then leaving just as quickly. Roarke patiently waited to be filled in.

"They just got word," Dante explained. "The Guardians have entered back into Meridian."

"Well, then," Roarke said, turning his back on him. "You know what to do."

Dante nodded and headed for the door.

"And Dante," Roarke called over his shoulder to the boy. Dante paused with his hand on the doorknob, frozen in motion.

"Do not disappoint me again."

"Sir," he agreed with a nod, then took his leave.

-

"I still say we shouldn't have come," Kadma complained, shivering as the forest air began to grow cold. A fog had set in as well, making it extremely difficult to see even her fellow Guardians walking three feet in front of her.

"We have to face it someday," Cassidy added in as well. "We're lost. We're not like a little lost. We're like _really_ lost."

"Whose idea was this again?" Kadma again. "Oh yes. It was Nerissa's. She just _had_ to go and _save_ her man…"

Yan Lin chuckled, but stifled it quickly, not wanting to upset Nerissa. Nerissa didn't reply to their whinings, nor even seem to have heard their teasing at all. She was much to busy trying to keep an eye out for Sydrin.

It had taken her a couple of hours before she finally decided to follow the regiment out. A soldier left behind at the Crux had given her directions, but in the fog landmarks were useless.

"I thought loverboy made you promise to stay behind?" Kadma asked, in her own way.

Cassidy giggled.

"Stop it, Kadma," Yan Lin scolded. "You would do same if it was Ash."

That shut Kadma up quickly.

"Wait, just a second," Cassidy said suddenly, stopping in her tracks and inclining her ear to listen. "Ya'll hear that?"

The team peered through the trees, squinting their eyes in an attempt to gaze through the fog. Yan Lin finally remembered her air powers, clapping her hands together and whipping them apart, pushing aside the mist with gusts of wind.

As the fog slowly began to disperse, they could make out a figure, a silhouette of a man in a long cape walking toward them in a casual stroll.

"Sydrin?" Nerissa called out in wonder.

But it was not Sydrin.

The man coming toward them had dark hair, not light, and dark clothing. He had a sinister air about him, which set all the Guardians immediately on edge. When he got closer, they could see he wore no smile on his face-- no expression at all. He walked with a determined stride, as if making sure they knew: this was not pleasure for him. It was business as usual.

"Hello, Guardians," he said in a low voice, very casually as if he was meant to be here.

"Who are _you_ supposed to be?" Cassidy asked with a chuckle in her voice.

"My name is Dante," he replied very frankly. "I have traveled here in order to take your lives."

"_What_?" Kadma and Nerissa said together, but he was already moving. Wind seemed to come from nowhere, lifting him up into the air.

The girls stared up at him with awe.

"He has wind powers," Nerissa observed. "Yan, you're up. This shouldn't take long."

A jerk of his hand, and vines sprouted from the ground, binding Yan from head to toe.

"Looks like Earth powers too," Kadma remarked, stepping up to fight. "Guess it's up to me to take care of him, as usual."

When Kadma stepped up to fight him, Dante jerked his hand in her direction, a fire hydrant-size blast of water blowing her off into the foggy forest.

"Water powers too?" Nerissa wondered aloud. "What _are_ you?"

"I'm all the best parts of you--" he replied, as the other moaned and groaned, struggling to get back up again. "—All rolled into one. All your powers… are mine."

He was getting cocky now, though it didn't show on his face. There was a new glimmer in his eyes. The warning before the strike. Nerissa barely managed to dive out of the way in time before the lightning struck in her direction.

"Nerissa, what do we do?!" Yan Lin called through the trees.

"We fight! _Guardians, unite_!"

Dante waited patiently, watching them raise into the air and shift into their Guardian uniforms.

"I've never actually witnessed it," Dante said as they lowered back down, now clothed in bright teals and pinks, small sets of wings on each of their backs. "The transformation is truly amazing. Too bad it will be short lived."

"You're a cocky little fellah, aren't ya?" Cassidy commented, balling her hands into fists. "Looks like we're going to have to teach you a lesson."

"Oh, like you have so _far_?" he retorted smartly. "Go ahead, see if you can beat me."

"I don't like him," Cassidy leaned and whispered in Kadma's ear. Kadma nodded in firm agreement.

"Let's get him," Kadma said determinedly. Kadma then yelled, punching her fist into the air and slamming it into the ground when she came back down. She created an earth-shattering quake that made Dante stumble a bit, but he regained his balance quickly.

He countered by drenching her underwater, forming a bubble of it and encasing her inside. To his left, Yan was making tornados like nobodies business, and with his other hand he dissipated them all before they even came close.

Kadma and Yan Lin then began to back away, seeing very plainly they were not going to do any damage to this boy. Cassidy and Nerissa didn't even bother to try.

"Maybe someone should tell him that _we're_ the good guys," Cassidy said to them, as they crowded around in a huddle. Dante just waited patiently as they tried to think of a new plan. That arrogant glimmer was still there, taunting them.

"Why won't he lose like he's supposed to?" Kadma wondered, as she panted for loss of breath.

"Why do he attack us anyway?" Yan Lin asked.

"That's a good question," Nerissa said, breaking out of the huddle to look at their enemy directly. "Why _are_ you attacking us?"

"To keep you away from the battle you are surely heading for, most likely to help those expendable soldiers of yours. Ash's foolish little brother is the best decision-maker I've ever seen. If he were working for us, that is. Too bad for you people that… he's _not_."

"He's trying to stop us from helping Sydrin," Nerissa hissed at the others. "New plan. Just get me past him. I'll get as many soldiers as I can through a portal."

"Good plan," Cassidy agreed. "I'm feeling optimistic. I say I think it will work."

"I'll try not to make a liar out of you," Nerissa assured her.

-

**  
Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	22. Part 2 Chapter 7: Nerissa's Retreat

**-**

**PART 2-- Chapter 7:**

-

The four Guardians turned to the boy in the foggy distance, and realized that he was gone. Just the mist drifted by in Dante's place.

Immediately the Guardians put up their fists in alert, circling around each other trying to gaze into the wood for any sign of him.

"Ha!" Cassidy said triumphantly. "I think we spooked that nasty. Now I can get back home in time for my date with Steve."

Suddenly, to her left, a gust of dark water blasted her into a nearby tree. Nerissa whipped her head in the direction that the blast had come, but still, there was no sign of him.

"Cassidy!" Yan Lin yelled in worry when she saw that Cassidy was not getting up. Before she could go to Cassidy's aid, a blast of gray, smoky wind shoved her down next to her fallen friend.

"Yan!" Nerissa called with desperation.

Then Kadma angrily turned toward the empty woods.

"Okay, enough games. Why don't you come out where we can see you? Not afraid of some little _girls_, are you?"

"Of course not," Dante said with an amused voice, floating down from above. "You all are just painfully unobservant. You can't even be considered practice…"

Kadma would not stand for his ridicule, and shot her hands into the air, making grand earth-shaking trees burst from the ground in likewise motion. A bored wave of his hand, and Dante caused them to promptly wilt like they were mere flowers in hot sun. Kadma found herself humbled at this, stepping back in amazement.

Cassidy shook herself awake, as Yan Lin did the same. Cassidy rubbed her head in pain, but rage immediately replaced it.

"Let's get this chump," she ordered. "Nerissa, go! Everyone, attack together!"

Yan Lin and Kadma raced to Cassidy's side, making a wall in front of Nerissa, as she got to work making a portal to escape through. Cassidy's anger subsided for a few seconds to lean and confirm with Nerissa:

"You _will_ come back for us before we get our butts handed to us, right?"

"Sure thing," Nerissa assured her quickly.

"Alright!" Cassidy said again with more confidence in her tone. "Let's _get_ this chump!"

Dante stood fearlessly before them, awaiting their next action with anticipation.

"On the count of three," Cassidy told the others. "One… two…"

"Oh, no you don't!" Dante suddenly yelled, breaking apart their human barrier to get at Nerissa, who currently had one foot through a portal. Dante stomped the ground, making a black vine come up and grab her remaining leg.

"You will _not_ save your friends!" he scolded her, concentrating on making the vine pull her back into Meridian's side.

Kadma glanced up, just as Nerissa's brow furrowed in raw determination, glaring at Dante with harsh eyes. Kadma feared that look.

"Yes… I… WILL!" Nerissa screamed, then struck her hand against the vine, a spark of electricity disintegrating its hold. Before Dante could attack again, she was gone. As a last resort, he dove to fly through the portal after her, but Kadma was already on her feet, a whip of a vine of her own springing from the ground and grabbing Dante out of midair, making him fall flat on his face into the ground. He looked up just in time to see the portal close.

"No!" he yelled in defeat, stretching his hand out where the portal was just moments ago. Quite furious now, he shoved the vine off his foot, and stood up with hands clenching into tight fists.

"Oh, you fools…" he growled as his hands dripped with darkened water from his fingertips. "You just let your only chance of retreat leave you behind. And now, you have made me angry."

"This is no good," Yan Lin commented. Cassidy gulped and nodded her silent agreement.

-

Nerissa ran through the portal back into Meridian, making sure will it to the destination of Sydrin's battle. Only she didn't anticipate running right into the _center_ of it. Man, subspecies, and beast all fought with every ounce of strength they possessed, yelling and striking from all sides. Nerissa squealed in fear as one struck close, then another. She had to get out of there! Screaming and running through the first clearing she saw, she began to regret her not looking before she leaped through her portal right into the heat of this war.

Still, her objective was first in her mind, and she kept her eyes peeled for any sign of Sydrin. She couldn't help but wonder if she was too late, and fear began to overtake her.

Through the crowd, she spotted one familiar face.

"Falco!" she called to Ash's fellow comrade. "Where is Sydrin?"

Striking down his foe, the dark-haired man named Falco then turned to look at who called his name.

"Guardian!" he recognized. "What are you--?"

But he didn't get to finish, for a large, green beast on Nerissa's right suddenly raised his hammer in an elongated wind-up, then yelled and letting his mallet fly.

Nerissa screamed, hiding her hands over her face in terror, before the beast suddenly groaned and fell limply to the ground. Once he fell, Nerissa could spot the arrow firmly buried in his back. A pretty arrow, with orange feathers. It was Sydrin's.

She looked up and combed the crowd for Sydrin's face, a new hope in the fact that he was close. Then she spotted him, running up to her with anger on his face. Nerissa knew she should have been ashamed for breaking her promise to him, but she couldn't help but just feel glad he was still alive.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded. "This is no place for an inexperienced Guardian!"

"I can help!" Nerissa suggested. "We can retreat through a portal, we can save these soldiers!"

"I will not flee from a battle like a mutinous coward," Sydrin declared firmly. "Go!"

"Then I'll fight with you!" Nerissa suggested. "I can! I can distract the enemy, lead them away!"

Sydrin stabbed a blunt arrow into a beast that came from nowhere. It fell to the ground, dead.

"The only thing you are distracting is _me_," Sydrin insisted. "Ahh!"

Suddenly he called out in pain and fell to his knees, a foreign arrow finding a home in his left calf.

"Oh no!" Nerissa said, kneeling down to him. The man who had fired the arrow was quickly taken down by Falco, much to their relief.

"This is suicide, Sydrin!" Nerissa insisted. "And I won't stand for it!"

"The men," he acquiesced to her through his pain. "Get them out first."

"Alright," she agreed, letting the Heart fly up and make another portal out. "Soldiers of Her Highness Wilona!" she called out. "Retreat through this portal!"

"Do as she says!" Sydrin reverberated. "We will not die in service to a sniveling wretch, but live to see Ashlee reinstated!"

The remaining few soldiers shouted their agreement, racing over to the portal and diving through. Falco and a few others fought off the enemies that dared think they could follow.

Finally, they carried Sydrin through, and Nerissa quickly went in as well, closing it quickly behind her, shoving back a beastly enemy soldier that tried to get through one last time.

Nerissa soon realized as she stepped into the crowded apartment, so filled with soldiers that she could barely move, that Yan Lin's place would not be able to serve as a housing for the dozens of remaining soldiers. But worse than that, she found herself in the middle of the squirming mob, plastered completely against Sydrin, making her blush wildly. She grew ashamed that she was enjoying their closeness for the first time, perhaps a little too much.

"Are you well?" Sydrin asked in concern for the unfamiliar look on her face. She considered this, nodding submissively as she admitted:

"_Very_ well," she said breathlessly, with hidden meaning. The other soldiers did not notice her actions, thankfully, for they were too busy acknowledging their queen on the other side of the room, who was still quite surprised at the sight of many soldiers suddenly pouring in out of nowhere. Since she recognized most of them, she got over it quickly, and was soon fawned over with kisses on the hand and many respectful greetings.

"You should probably let the soldiers return home," Sydrin suggested to Nerissa after a moment or two of her not moving. She flushed in embarrassment, and managed to lift her hand up, letting the Heart create one more portal, this time back to the Crux.

The soldiers began to go through, and Nerissa let out her breath at being able to step away from her close proximity with Sydrin. After a few moments of watching the soldiers disappear beyond, Nerissa noticed that Sydrin would not follow.

"Go ahead," Nerissa urged him. "It's perfectly safe, I assure you."

"Not that," Sydrin countered. "Tred will have me hanged for disobeying his orders if I return again."

Nerissa frowned at this, not liking that development at all.

"Then where would you like to go?"

Sydrin looked at her with apologetic eyes.

"Until Tred decides I am dead and calls back the search parties, I fear I can't go back into Meridian… anywhere."

"I see," Nerissa said with a nod, finally understanding him. "Then I'll ask Yan if you might stay here, for now."

He nodded his gratefulness.

"Assure her it will not be for long. Just until Ash returns."

Suddenly Nerissa hoped that Ash would not be rescued anytime soon…

-

**  
A new page set up on the website, of casting concepts. Basically, what actor I would cast for each role in this story. Comments are very VERY much appreciated there. Oh yes, and please review before you go.   
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	23. Part 2 Chapter 8: Sydrin Goes to School

**PART 2-- Chapter 8:**

**-**

Dante stood tauntingly smug in the distance, as the three Guardians stood in a huddle together, trying desperately to catch their breath. Trees were fallen, the earth was split, and pools of water were scattered all around. They were tired and hurting, and still seemed to not be making any progress on the boy.

"Okay," Kadma panted. "Can somebody tell me when we lost control here?"

"I'm missing a date with Steve for this?" Cassidy whined breathlessly, holding her hurt stomach. "This kid needs to get with the program. Good guys win, bad guys lose."

"No," Yan Lin contradicted, glancing over at Dante, who seemed to be getting bored. "We need Nerissa need to come back for us."

"Are you quite done discussing your failures?" Dante called over, folding his arms impatiently. "Because I wish to end this sometime soon."

"Stupid whippersnapper," Cassidy growled. "We've been going about this all wrong. No more group attacks. We surround him; attack one-by-one. One of us is bound to catch him off guard."

"Sounds like a plan," Kadma said with a firm nod.

They turned back to their opponent, fists clenched.

"Get ready!" Cassidy said, whirling up a good ball of water. "Set…!"

Suddenly a portal appeared between the two opposing sides, and Nerissa ran forth with an outstretched hand.

"Com'on!" she commanded. "The soldiers are safe! There's no more need to stay!"

The girls made to leave, and Dante smirked at them as if amused. He didn't bother to chase them.

"That's it, run for your lives," he scoffed. "You should figure out by now that you will surely fail… just like your army leader and your little fire friend."

Cassidy stopped in her tracks, frowning in confusion. The others did the same.

"He knows where Halinor is," Cassidy gathered, taking her leg back from the portal's hold.

"Tell us!" Kadma commanded him.

"We have to go, girls!" Nerissa begged them. "He's just baiting you because he knows he can beat you if you fight again. Let's just go!"

"No, wait!" Cassidy shouted back, then turned to Dante again. "Where is Halinor?"

Dante folded his arms again, a devious grin on his tight lips, and stayed silent.

"Cassidy, com'_on_!" Nerissa pleaded some more.

"Just hold your horses, 'Rissa!" Cassidy commanded. "Alright, tough guy. Let's see what you got. I win, you tell me. You win, you can take me too."

"_Cassidy_!" Yan Lin scolded.

"Your terms are acceptable," Dante agreed, taking a fighting stance. "So come over here and fight me."

It was Cassidy's turn to grin.

"No, I think I want to fight you from right here."

A wave of panic swept over Dante's face. It was just a glimmer, but Cassidy saw it anyways.

"See," Cassidy said, putting a confident hand on her hip. "I don't think you can fight me from afar. I think you need me close enough for you to leech off my power and use it as your own. Am I right?"

"Coward," Dante shot back. "You don't want to face me like a true warrior. What more should I expect when fighting a stupid little girl?"

"This 'stupid little girl' is smart enough to figure _you_ out, at least," Cassidy said, welling up another ball of water. "So unless you want to take a good swim in an airborne river, I suggest you start singing some information."

Dante sighed in defeat, knowing that they had figured out his only weakness. This was bad.

"Alright…" he said. "She is at the castle on the third floor."

He lifted up his hands to her.

"And you are wrong," he said, letting water stream out from his palm. "You would have to be standing farther away than _that_."

Cassidy drew back in surprise, and watched Dante walk off into the fog without another word.

"Did I just hear wrong?" she asked the others. "Or did he just voluntarily _help_ us?"

"I smell a rat," Kadma announced. "He's bound to be luring us into a trap."

"If his trap involves Halinor," Nerissa said. "We have to take the bait. But for now, we need to get home."

They nodded at one another and turned to go. Nerissa looked to Yan Lin, biting her lip and holding her back from going in the portal just yet.

"And Yan?"

"Yes?" she replied, gazing at her friend expectantly.

"You might have a little surprise waiting for you back at your apartment."

-

"You have returned!" Sydrin said, rising to his feet to greet them as they came forth from the portal into Yan Lin's apartment. Wilona stayed put, but waved in their direction. She appeared rather weary and tired.

"And you are all well," the queen said gladly. "Very good."

"Sydrin?" Yan Lin said in surprise. She looked to Nerissa for an explanation.

"What is Sydrin doing here?"

"He can't go home," Nerissa replied. "He needs a place to stay for a few days… or weeks…"

"You want me to keep the cat-man on earth," Yan Lin repeated. "In my apartment."

"They'll kill him otherwise," Nerissa pleaded.

"They'll kill him here!" Yan Lin protested. "_Look_ at him!"

Nerissa obeyed, noticing all the abnormalities in turn: the cat-eyes, the pointed ears. They were too much to pass off in public, and no doubt Sydrin would hate to be kept in this small one-room apartment like a prisoner.

But then, Sydrin's pupils suddenly shifted round and normal. All stared in stunned shock.

"Is that better?" he asked.

The others were speechless. Cassidy was the first to break the silence. She smiled, and looked to Nerissa excitedly.

"_I_ get to take him to school."

-

Sydrin stared freely at the new wonders to behold, as they walked up the pavement to the front door of Greenbrook High. He couldn't get enough of the sights, simple things unknown to him such as posters, lockers, and everyone's strange clothing. He himself had been redressed in one of Cassidy's father's old clothes, a simple set of slacks and a plaid shirt, and they suited him well. His hair had been pulled over his ears to make them less noticeable. He seemed to be fitting in fine. A few girls that passed his way even raised their eyebrows in his direction. Nerissa frowned at this and stuck close to his arm.

Registering him proved to be quite the feat, with Sydrin having no parents and no history, but they surprisingly let him stay once Nerissa claimed he was a foreign exchange student.

"Alright," Nerissa coached him on school rules on the way to class. "You can't talk in class, or get up, or do anything but listen to the teacher. If she asks you a question, just tell her that you don't know because they don't teach that stuff in your country."

Sydrin nodded, taking it all in.

"What country is he supposed to be from?" Kadma asked Nerissa.

"Umm…" Nerissa looked around for inspiration. She noticed a maple tree out the window. "Canada?"

"Good enough," Kadma agreed.

-

Sydrin was good in class, surprisingly, staying quiet as a church mouse, his hands laced together in front of himself, and paid attention to the teacher with great interest.

"Shakespeare was a lover," the teacher explained. "A writer, and a gifted poet. But he was surely not a fighter. Yet he proved to be the most famous bard of our time, and his name lives on through the ages…"

Nerissa panicked when Sydrin raised his hand to the teacher. He had seen the other students do the same, and had understandably followed suit in waiting to be called on before he spoke out.

"_Sydrin_, what are you doing?" Nerissa hissed, but it was too late.

"Yes, Mr…" she looked on her records, but didn't seem to find his last name anywhere.

"My other name is Sypharen," he filled in the blank. The teacher, Mrs. Price, wrote it down.

"Our new student, Sydrin Sypharen," she repeated. "You have something you would like to add?"

"Why do you idolize this writer, who wrote beautiful words but seemed to take no action to fight for what he believed in?"

"He was a lover, not a fighter," the teacher explained.

"Then how could he call himself a man?" Sydrin insisted.

The students around laughed at this.

"We remember him because he has written immortal words."

"Did his words achieve any peace?"

"Well, not really," Mrs. Price admitted.

"Then their purpose was solely to entertain?"

"Yes, exactly," she confirmed.

"Then, to me," Sydrin crumbled back into his seat as if disappointed. "He has achieved nothing."

The teacher frowned at Sydrin, but let it go.

"May I continue with the lesson, Mr. Sypharen?"

Sydrin sighed.

"If you feel you must."

Nerissa sighed and shook her head in frustration. It was going to be a long day.

-

Again, SO so sorry it has taken so long. Life has still been madness. Please forgive me, and please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue


	24. Part 2 Chapter 9: Helpful Halinor

**PART 2-- Chapter 9:**

-

Ashlee's steel bound wrists hung in the musty castle dungeon, having hung for so long they were now bruised and bloody. His arms were spread out while his feet were bound to shackles attached to the stone floor. His entire body ached with the endless tortures that they gave him daily, with no inch of flesh unscathed with whippings that stung just as strong now as when they had been inflicted hours before. If that wasn't enough, a leak in the ceiling overhead dripped annoyingly onto his burning back, letting him know of the rain that was surely outside, since there were no windows in the cell to allow him to witness it firsthand. His stomach churned within him for lack of food, barely eating enough to survive. It had been snowing for days, and only now had switched to rain. The cold made his every breath visible before his eyes, his entire person shaking in his lack of clothing to support any body heat.

Still, it was pain he took gladly and without complaint. He would take any amount of persecution if it meant his queen could lie in safety. His queen, and his wife.

He hadn't spoken a word since they brought him here, neither through his tortures nor through his solitary confinement. He would not be broken. He would see this through to the end. Perhaps he might end up with his queen. Perhaps not. It was a risk he was willing to take.

She was worth it.

Two guards beyond his sight played some game among themselves to keep busy in the seemingly endless nightwatch shifts. Ash could hear their wooden pieces tapping on the wooden board from where he stood.

"You want in on the death pool, rookie?" one asked the other. "The odds are good this time around."

"What's the death pool?" a younger guard asked naively.

"The boys and I make little bets on the prisoners on who will be see their doom first. Three to one odds that the leader is going to be gone by the end of the month."

"Try the end of the _week_," the other laughed. "With the trial coming up, that boy's days are numbered."

The pair chuckled together, and Ash hung his head in defeat. He had hoped it would end this way. It wasn't his time. There was too much to live for now. He would not give up hope that the Guardians would come… they would find him…

-

Halinor lingered by the window, wondering why Dante did not show today to bring her lunch like he usually did. Some large, monstrous, and overly smelly guard had come and dropped her tray on the floor ever since Dante had saved her from that other guard on her near-escape attempt. She was actually a little worried for the boy. Was he being punished for his deed? Tortured? Put to death? And to think, it was all her fault…

Halinor paused her bout of worry when she got the eerie sense that she was being watched. A slight look to her right and she quickly noticed that Dante was there standing next to her.

"Whoa!" she gasped in surprise. "Where'd you come from?"

"Battle," he replied simply. "With your friends."

Halinor furrowed her brow at this. He had battled her friends? Apparently so, she realized, because she then saw that his arm was wrapped up in a cloth stained red. He appeared worn out and barely able to stand. Swelling with pity for him, she took action, herding him toward the bed.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, devoid of trust for his prisoner. Halinor did not reply, just tenderly untied the bandage on his arm. She grabbed the room's hand-washing bin, and dipped the dirty rag into it, and rung out all the blood and filth. Dante watched her all the while with a hawk's-eye gaze, waiting for the proof that his distrust of her was not in vain. It came, when she wiped away the grime from the actual wound, causing him to hiss in pain and pull away.

"What, no salt or lemon juice?" he complained cynically.

"Well, sor_ry_," Halinor shot back harshly. "I'm just trying to help."

"Trying without succeeding," Dante assured her.

"Oh, stop whining, ya baby," Halinor commanded, grabbing his arm to continue her work. Dante surprisingly let her. He sat very still as she finished, like a good patient. She bound his rag firmly, then patted it gently with the satisfaction of a job well done.

Dante pulled away and inspected it. Seemingly approving, he arose and went back to watching out the window. Halinor rolled her eyes at his lack of gratitude.

"I have been told to take your life," Dante informed her.

Halinor had a sudden intake of air that made her choke a bit.

"_What_?!"

"I have been told to--"

"No, no, I heard you," she cut him off. "Why?"

"For Ash to have seemingly murdered a Kandrakar Guardian would prove to be his sure undoing at the hands of the Council. We will put your remains in his place of residence, so when he returns home they shall only arrest him again."

Halinor gulped.

"I see you have this all planned out."

Dante nodded in assurance of this. He pulled out a pair of shackles from his cloak and went to her. He stopped when she did not put up a fuss, then shrugged it off and grabbed her hand in his to properly lock the bind on her wrist. Halinor bit her lip, looking down at her hand in his, getting distracted from her fears by the feel of his calloused skin on hers. He noticed her staring, and paused again. She looked up at him in shame, and for several moments they simply stared.

Dante scowled and clicked the lock closed, and grabbed the chain that held her shackles together to lead her off.

"Come," he commanded her.

-

"It has to be a trap," Sydrin said decidedly, as the four Guardians and he sat together in the cafeteria for lunch. Nerissa was completely ready to go and rescue Halinor then and there, but Sydrin thought it'd be best to discuss it beforehand first. He was rightly unsettled about Dante revealed Halinor's location to them so casually, and feared for their safety, as did Yan Lin.

"I don't see the problem," Cassidy argued. "Even if it is a trap, we can handle it."

"We _are_ still quite inexperienced," Kadma reminded them. "Besides, without the Guardian's being whole, our powers will suffer."

"The only one who's suffering is Halinor," Nerissa exclaimed. "The more we wait, the more harm could be done to her. We sit and eat macaroni while who-knows-what is happening to her right now!"

"Hey, Sydrin," a group of girls called as they walked past their table. Sydrin quirked an eyebrow in confusion, but nodded back, much to their enjoyment. Nerissa frowned, but let it go.

"'Macaroni', you called this?" Sydrin asked, stirring up his noodles with his spork and examining it closely. "I find it unsettling."

"As do all," Cassidy assured him. "The chow here is downright dangerous. Try the puddin', hon. I always find that to be safe."

Sydrin took her advice and inspected the chocolate pudding, smelling it a bit, before tasting it.

"It is…" he said, before his face lit up with excitement. "Exquisite!"

Cassidy laughed and patted him on the back with commiseration.

"That's it," Nerissa said boldly. "Let's take a vote. All in favor of saving Halinor as soon as the bell rings, raise your hand."

Nerissa raised her own hand, as did Cassidy. Sydrin, Kadma and Yan Lin only glanced at one another.

"Well," Nerissa huffed. "Sydrin can't count cuz he's not going. I'm the leader, so my vote counts as two. Cassidy and I win."

"Yay for us!" Cassidy clapped.

"Not fair!" Kadma argued. "You can't make up the rules as you go."

"Hi, Sydrin…" some more girls giggled as they went by.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Nerissa snapped at them, and they quickly dispersed. "Since when are _you_ so dang popular?" Nerissa ask Sydrin harshly. "You've barely been here six hours and already you're the talk of the school."

"_Some_one had a big scoop of jealousy for lunch," Cassidy joked. "Ooo! Act cool, here comes Steve West!"

Nerissa hid her face with her hand and groaned deeply as Cassidy flagged him over excitedly.

"Someone please shoot me and put me out of my misery," Nerissa whined.

"Hey, Steve!" Cassidy said with a bright smile. "Completely sorry that we couldn't make it the other day."

"Yeah," Steve said with sorrow. "I was wondering why you never showed. Who's this?"

Steve offered his hand to Sydrin, who looked down on it with confusion as to what he was supposed to do with it.

"This is Sydrin," Nerissa explained. "He's a foreign exchange and a _close_ personal friend of mine."

Steve nodded, his eyebrows raising.

"I see. It's nice to meet you, Sydrin."

Sydrin nodded to him obligingly in reply, and Steve finally put down his offered hand, taking it as a hint.

"So, I was thinking maybe we could try it again the same time next week," Steve tried.

"Oh, yes," Cassidy agreed with a fervent nod. "That sounds swell, _doesn't _it, Nerissa?"

Cassidy elbowed her friend.

"Oh," Nerissa said with fake regret. "I think I'm going to be sick that day."

Steve looked at her with doubt.

"Oh, yeah," Nerissa said reassuringly. "I can feel a cold coming on already…"

"Why don't we see how you're feeling when the weekend comes," Steve insisted.

"I think what Nerissa is trying to say," Sydrin piped up at last. "Is that she does not want to go out with you this weekend, or any weekend, for that matter, if I assume correctly about her feelings of great hostility toward you, seeing as she mentioned she would rather shoot herself than speak to you."

All mouths within hearing distance were gaping open in shock at these words. Nerissa's eyes were popping out of her head, her body stunned frozen. Figuring quickly he had said something distressing, Sydrin backtracked.

"Do I assume incorrectly?" he asked Nerissa with confusion. She was unable to reply for many moments.

"We have to go," Nerissa said at last, grabbing her things to leave and the other girls quickly following suit.

**-**

**Oh my God, a million major-league apologies for taking so long. I'm still here! And this story by no means has lost my interest, and I would hope you feel the same way. Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	25. Part 2 Chapter 10: Once Burned

**A/N: Wow, it's been a while, I know. I am so sorry. I hope you all are still interested in hearing the end of this. Other things have directed my attention, and I apologize. Read on…**

**-**

**PART 2-- Chapter 10:**

-

Yan Lin stopped talking for a moment, looking at her granddaughter with a strange and curious look. The restaurant was silent.

"You haven't interrupted me in a quite a while, Hay Lin," she observed. "Are you sure there is nothing you wanted to say?"

Hay Lin thought for a minute, then shook her head.

"No…"

"Nothing about Tred, or the queen, or Dante, or even Nerissa?"

Hay Lin shook her head again.

"No… I trust that my questions will be revealed soon enough if I just stay quiet listen to you. Please go on, Grandma."

Yan Lin frowned in bewilderment, then took another breath and continued on…

-

Dante led Halinor through the halls, his face angry and of single-minded determination. He had most likely prepared himself mentally for the cruel action he was about to perform. He had no doubt done this sort of thing before.

Halinor shook furiously in her fear, not knowing what to expect. Was there torture to be involved here, or was he just going to get it over with quick? Either way, she was not seeing tomorrow's sunrise, or her friends, again. It was a concept she would never be prepared for.

She was the fearful one. Now she was the one with her fears upon her.

-

Sydrin and the four remaining Guardians stared up at the looming castle, one they had seen only once before, with disastrous result. This castle promised pain and maybe even death, but it was something they would have to brave today.

"For Halinor," Nerissa told the others, then lifted up the Heart to eye level. "Guardians, unite."

-

Dante walked rather quickly, in a pace that Halinor found hard to keep up with. He carried himself as one would when they were quite cross with their company, and wanted to be rid of them as quickly as possible. Halinor couldn't read his thoughts by the expression on his face, but he seemed pensive, even worried.

Then suddenly, he stopped. The halt was so abrupt that Halinor almost lost her balance putting on the brakes. Dante then proceeded to take out a ring of keys. He concentrated on her shackles, putting the keys in the lock, and taking them off her wrists as he spoke:

"Take a right, and then a left along this hall, and go down the stairs."

He said it so quickly that Halinor had to take a moment to register his directions and keep them in the forefront of her mind.

"When you see a door with no handle, push it and go out through the stables. Do not be seen." Dante fiercely yanked her by the collar and brought her close to his nose. "DO _NOT_ be seen."

He shoved her away as if her presence offended him. Then he stormed back the way he came in long, infuriated strides.

Shocked, Halinor glanced down at the open shackles in her hands.

"But… why?"

Dante paused for a moment in his tracks, glancing at her over his shoulder out of his peripherals. Just enough to see the hope in Halinor's eyes and for her to see the longing in his.

Then he continued on his way without another word.

-

"Alright, here's what we're going to do," Nerissa said, gathering the girls together to see the game plan she'd drawn in the dirt with a stick. "We'll enter through here, and at the fork, Sydrin and I will go down to the dungeons to get Ashlee, while the rest of you will search the upper towers for--"

"Oh my gawd, is that Halinor?' Cassidy squealed, pointed off into the distance where a blonde woman was running full speed out a large wooden door.

"I think it is!" Nerissa exclaimed, waving at the fleeing girl to get her attention without making noise. She didn't seem to notice, just continued running.

"Allow me," Kadma offered, picking up a small stone from the ground and flinging it at Halinor with some force. It hit Halinor square in the temple, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground.

"_Kadma_," Yan Lin scolded. Kadma just shrugged.

"It worked, didn't it?"

True to her word, Halinor arose quickly and stopped to search for her assailant, spotting the brightly clothed Guardians hiding behind the cover of the trees. An overjoyed look came across her features, and she sprinted to them excitedly. When she arrived, she hugged each of them in turn, while Sydrin hung back and watched fondly. When she got to Kadma, she paused.

"Kadma," she said cautiously.

"Halinor," Kadma greeted back, her gaze cold and heartless, until it softened a bit. "Pity they didn't keep you. We did so splendidly in your absence."

"How did you escape?" Cassidy asked.

"A friend helped me…" Halinor said dreamily, then grew gravely serious as she realized something. "A friend that will probably die for doing what he did. I have to go back!"

"What?!" the other girls exclaimed.

"He needs my help!" Halinor explained.

"_You're_ the one that needs help!" Cassidy cried. "You just free, now you want to go back?"

"Are you quite certain this is what you want?" Sydrin asked her seriously. Halinor nodded to assure him of it.

"He saved me, now I have to go return the favor," Halinor replied.

"Then," Sydrin sighed. "We will await your return. I wish you luck."

With that, Sydrin leaned down to Halinor and pressed his lips to her cheek, much to Nerissa's horror.

-

But she wasn't the only one appalled by this, as Dante watched from the window of that tall tower, gazing upon Sydrin's mouth so close to Halinor's with spite and hatred in his eyes. His eyes filled with the anger of betrayal, an unfamiliar stabbing feeling creeped up to his heart. Dante stormed off with a loud huff, not standing any more of the sight.

-

"What the heck was that for?" Halinor bellowed, jerking away from Sydrin with wide eyes. Sydrin frowned in confusion.

"Nerissa informed me that was the common earthen wish for good fortune. Did I perform it wrong?"

All four other Guardians gave Nerissa a knowing look, while the black-haired girl blushed deeply with embarrassment, scowling angrily and not meeting their condemning gazes.

"No, Sydrin," Halinor chuckled. "You 'performed' it fine. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

With that, Halinor trotted back up the way she came, leaving her rescuers behind.

-

Dante marched through the hall, silently scolding himself for becoming what his master had always feared… Soft. In wide, infuriated steps, he burst into the throne room, bowing before his superior with respect. Dante's fury set the room ablaze with thick tension, and it was hard for anyone present to ignore.

"You enter my throne room unannounced?" Roarke growled. "You had better have good reason."

"The Guardian escaped, My Lord," Dante reported with disdain.

"_What_?!" Roarke sprung from his seat at the royal throne, his robe flailing about in his upheaval. "How did this happen? Are you completely incompetent?"

"No sir," Dante said, looking up at his master square in the eyes. A sadistic smile spreading on his young features. "I have a plan."

**-**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


End file.
